


Can You See Me?

by kipnotize



Series: Meetings and Partings of the Beloved [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-14
Updated: 2014-08-03
Packaged: 2018-01-24 20:08:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 52,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1615511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kipnotize/pseuds/kipnotize
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the prequel to Please Remember, but the works in this series can be read in either order. This one details the meeting of Eren and his Corporal, how they end up together, and all their embarrassing attempts to flirt in between up to their parting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the first chapter you guys! Keep an open mind, I know it's not the best. But before you begin, I'd like to just take a moment to thank all of you guys who are reading this because you read Please Remember. You guys are the best, I love you all!

Levi's POV

"No."

"Levi, this isn't an option, it's an order. Humanity needs that boy, and the only way it's going to keep him is if the Survey Corps is granted custody of him." Fucking Erwin. Who decided to put him in charge here?

"I understand that much, but that doesn't explain why you think I'm going to babysit the little shit. How the hell do you think you're going to convince the Capitol to hand him over, anyway?" If I was honest with myself, I didn't doubt that Erwin would be able to convince the higher ups to let us keep the Titan shifter. He was capable in everything I had ever seen him set his mind to, though that didn't mean I enjoyed his methods sometimes.

"Look, he's more than likely going to do something stupid during the trial. That'll be our chance to prove that you can handle him easily and that he won't be able turn against us. After that, yes, you will have to watch after him, but it won't be so bad. Just keep one eye on him when your outside and keep him locked up at night. But from what I heard, that boy has a one track mind and his one goal is to kill all the Titans. He shouldn't be anything more than another soldier." I let out a snort at the last part. Really, Erwin? Just another soldier, ya right.

"Tch." I looked down, trying to figure out how to respond. By showing I could easily handle the brat, would that mean... "Oi, do you plan on having me beat up the kid in court?" I raised an eyebrow when Erwin nodded, but was not displeased.

We really did need the Titan shifter, and so long as he pulled his weight, I could probably push the duty of keeping watch on him onto someone else. Hanji, perhaps. Shitty glasses would have a field day.

"Fine. But I want to get a look at him before I spread his blood around." Erwin nodded, as if he had expected this, and started to turn around and walk away before he called out a reply over his shoulder.

"Come on. I managed to convince them to let me in to see him, there shouldn't be a problem with you tagging along." I made a sound of annoyance before pushing myself off the wall and following my shit head of a commander down a hallway and a set of stairs.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, my mind was immediately dragged away from the filth around me to the teenager sleeping in one of the cells. I drew in a sharp breath, and I felt Erwin shoot me a look.

"See something you like?" Damn him. He knew I was gay, and he couldn't just let it be.

I stared through to the boy sleeping on what looked like the most uncomfortable bed I had even seen, wondering how he could deal with it. There was no way in hell I'd find the stupid brat on the other side of the bars attractive. Not with his peaceful and relaxed face, lips slightly parted, not with his rich brown hair mused and splayed around on the sorry excuse for a pillow, not with the...

"Fuck off Erwin. Of course not. This place is fucking disgusting, though." Erwin smirked and looked over at the Titan shifter.

"Whatever you say. His name's Eren Yeager, though, in case you change your mind." I let out what could only be described as a growl, annoyed with both Erwin and myself for not being able to take my eyes of the kid. Shit, he must be a million years younger than me...

"Shitty brat will do fine, I think." Erwin nodded absently, and we both watched as the Titan shifter started to stir. When he sat up he rubbed at his eyes groggily, and I had to clench my hands at the temptation to run my fingers through the hair sticking up every which way from his head.

I leaned up against the wall, crossing my arms, trying to pretend that I really didn't have the slightest interest in him. However, that facade was nearly shattered when he opened his eyes. Caribbean orbs practically glowed in the gloom, sending out sharp barbs of intensity that pierced through everything else and squeezed at my chest. I kept my gaze cool as he took in his surroundings, looking first at his dismal cell and then at Erwin and me. He widened his eyes when our eyes locked, and I could practically smell the hero worship rolling off I him.

Damn it. Another one of those. Not like I cared, of course. Wasn't anything to me whether he turned out to be worth something besides his supernatural power. I must have missed Erwin speaking to him, though, because the next thing I knew my opinion about the dumb brat was thrown once more.

"I...I'm going to kill all the Titans. Every last one of them! I'll kill them! I want to leave these cages we call walls, and I want to slay the monsters plaguing the last of humanity. I have..to kill them. All of them." Oh my fucking god. If I thought that his eyes were intense earlier when he was still half asleep, I was dead wrong. The second he started answering whatever Erwin had asked him, his eyes were lit aflame with the purpose behind them.

I stood up properly, watching as his gaze immediately caught the movement, and walked over to the spot next to the cell door and grabbed at one of the bars. I stared in at the boy, wondering how on earth I had thought that he was just going to be a thorn in my side. While I hated it when soldiers regarded me as some sort of hero, he was different. I couldn't quite place it, but the determined look in his eyes and the way he held himself put him in a league of his own. His hands were clenched around the sheet that he had been given, and they had tightened when he talked about the walls being cages.

"Not bad.." I heard myself mutter it, but I wasn't completely aware of it. The last time someone had held the same view point as me about being locked up like some sort of cattle was... I actually couldn't remember. He may just turn out to be useless and a burden, and the way he regarded me would be a pain...but the way he looked at the world, the fact that he so obviously had a purpose in life apart from eating and sleeping and shitting...

I wondered absently how hard it would be to tear at the ferocity he showed to reach that purpose.

I must have missed whatever Erwin said to... Yeager, I think it was?... because the next thing I knew, those huge ass eyes were glaring once more as the owner of said eyes saluted us both and I found myself following Erwin back up the stairs before I got to figure out what had happened.

"So, I do believe that you were a bit distracted there. You better focus soon, we have to be at the trial... Now, actually. Lets go." I followed Erwin numbly, wondering why I had been so thrown off by a shitty brat. I found myself standing in the courtroom soon enough, though, staring at Yeager chained to a pole in the middle if the room.

Damn it! Why the hell couldn't I focus?! It wasn't like I hadn't been in relationships before, so even if I did find the dumb brat just a bit attractive, there was no need for me to get so worked up. Honestly, I was acting like some stupid school girl, and enough was enough. I clenched my fists, tuning in just in time to hear Erwin tell me that I should act now.

"-just put your faith in me!" And that was all the stupid brat got to say. I may be having a hard time placing my feelings for the boy, but knocking out a tooth or two was something I could always do.

I kicked at him repeatedly, wondering how far Erwin wanted me to take this. Yeager let out a groan, and I grabbed at his hair and pulled his face up to mine, trying not to think about how soft the strands were between my fingers. I gave him the same lecture about pain that I do all my subordinates, giving him a few more bruises while I was at it.

We won the case.

I was following Erwin out to where our horses were when I heard Yeager and shitty glasses talking in a room with the door only slightly open. I slowed to a stop, Erwin threw me a glance but kept walking, and I focused my attention to the other side of the door. Stupid four eyes was freaking out about the growth of a tooth, I felt myself raise an eyebrow that the kid possessed Titan healing powers even while in human form. Hesitating only a bit longer, I pushed open the door and walked in, plopping myself down on the couch beside Yeager.

I watched with a smirk as he visibly stiffened, and Hanji looked both of us up and down before I gave her a glare and a slight shake of my head. Why the hell did she pick up on everything? I hadn't even told her that I was into guys, but apparently the secrets of the world were open for her whenever she wanted them as she now immediately picked up on the discomfort and uncertainty I felt about my feelings towards Yeager.

I glanced over at Yeager as he sat stiff as ever and looked down at his lap, wondering how to ask this without sounding interested in... Socializing. Yup. That. Nothing else.

"Oi, brat. Do you resent me?" His head shot up quickly, and shitty glasses smirked.

"O-of course not, sir! I know that you did what you had to do, and I am grateful that you did so and that I'm now being welcomed into the Survey Corps. It's an honor!" I scowled at the fact that he was obviously fascinated in me simply because of my reputation, but I nodded and stood up. That was really all I had wanted to ask; if what I had done to the brat had shook him up too badly for him to look at my fondly. As that didn't seem to be a problem with his fucking hero worship, I left the room silently, aware of Hanji's and Eren's eyes on my back.

I still wasn't sure what to think of Yeager, but, well...For once I felt entirely captivated. And I decided that it wouldn't be so bad to keep an eye on the brat.


	2. Training with the Corporal

Levi's POV

 

Damn that brat. He was absolutely horrible at cleaning, and he can't keep his attention on one thing for more than a moment without constant reminder. He was always tripping over his own two feet, and last night I had to make him stay up past everyone else to reclean an entire floor of the castle we had camped out in for the time being. The emotions I had at first been entranced by turned out to be annoying bursts of rage, almost as awful as his moments of pure laziness. There was no pattern to his actions, I almost wondered if the brat was bipolar. Honestly, the only reason I hadn't kicked him out of my squad yet was because I had promised to look after him, and I knew that Erwin would force me to keep that promise.

Well, maybe that wasn't the only reason. He was fucking gorgeous, and no amount of shit the brat gave me could change that. I was glad he was pleasing to the eyes at least, but I think that I was more grateful that I hadn't developed any real feelings for the brat as I had first thought. I sighed at the stupid conclusion that I had jumped to in the cell under the courtroom before refocusing on the mountain of paperwork Erwin had dumped on me.

I was barely able to get through any of it though before there was a knock at my door, and I scowled before yelling at the door that whoever it was could come in. 

"Afternoon tea, Corporal." Yeager placed the tray on my desk by my pile of finished paperwork, and I nodded in acknowledgment. Well, that was one thin the brat could do well- make tea. "Umm.... Oh ya, Hanji wanted to know if you wanted the reports from today's expirements and therapy."

"Since when did you guys start doing therapy sessions?" Eren shifted his weight around, obviously wanting to leave as soon as he could.

That was the other thing that had changed since the courtroom. Much to my relief, his hero worship had worn off after the first couple days around me. Part of me was disappointed since it was almost definitely because my attitude was scaring him off, but then I had to remind myself that it was a simple physical attraction I felt towards the brat and that I had no reason to care what he thought of me.

"Since today. Hanji thought that it would help analyze the results of everything else we were doing. So do you want them? Sir?" I frowned slightly, making a mental note to tell shitty glasses to stop making decisions without my approval.

"No. Tell that stupid four eyes not to bother me with that kind of shit." I looked back down at my papers, rolling my eyes at the sigh of relief Yeager released before heading out of my room with a simple "yes sir". I picked up the cup of tea left for me without much thought, but almost spilled it all when there was more knocking at my door.

"What the fuck do you want?" I glared at Erwin as he entered my room without my say-so, annoyed that this was not abnormal.

"Are you almost done with those papers? I have to send them over to the Military Police in an hour." I scowled, looking back at the papers I had been letting pile up.

"Does it look like I am? How the hell is there always more shit to be filled out, anyway?" Erwin shrugged, picking up the pile of completed papers before glancing at my tea.

"You didn't used to drink tea in the afternoons as well as mornings... That Yeager kid?" I scowled, preferring not to answer the question. "Whatever. Just don't make a mess of him." I gagged on my tea, trying to process what Erwin had just suggested.

"Damn you," I coughed out, "it's not a crime to enjoy the pretty things in this screwed up world. I have no intention of doing anything with an annoying shit 10 years younger then me and my subordinate." Erwin rolled his eyes, and I scowled. "Like you can deny he's got a cute ass. Don't think you can fool me, I'm not the only one who's taken an interest in him. I'm just the first to also notice that he's good for nothing but making trouble and left it alone after that."

"Whatever you say. Make sure you finish those papers." And then he was gone, leaving me alone for the rest of my day, thankfully.

 

~~~  
Eren's POV

 

"...Sir? Did you need something?" I felt myself back away from the door slightly when I noticed Corporal Levi had entered, unsure if I should run for my life or clean the floor he looked about ready to set eyes on. Instead, he glanced over at me before brushing past me towards the door leading outside.

"Tch. As if a shitty brat could do anything to get me out of this." He made a beckoning motion over his shoulder before he disappeared outside, leaving me with no choice but to follow. 

He led me out around to the small stable where we kept the spare 3DMG for training (or in Hanji's case fun) and grabbed a couple before dumping them on me and leading me out to the forest we had been using to keep active. Once out there he took one of the systems from me and began attaching it to his harness, shooting me a glare when I didn't do the same.

"Shitty glasses and Erwin decided that you needed extra training time with us since you time in the Training Corps was cut a bit short, and apparently that's my job since I have to babysit you." We finished attaching the gear, and Corporal Levi launched himself up onto a nearby tree, landing easily and with little sound save for the familiar whir of cables. I felt a shred of admiration at the feat of pure skill I was able to witness, but it was quickly swept away when he called down to me.

"Oi, brat, I thought you knew had to use 3D Maneuver Gear! Get your ass up here!" I did so, landing on the huge branch next to the Corporal with what was maybe a bit less grace than he had.

"I'm not a brat. Sir." I scowled at him, adding just a hint of mockery to the 'Sir' at the end. He raised an eyebrow, and I saw a hint of what could've been laughter or annoyance flicker over his eyes. Probably annoyance.

"Really? You look like a kid to me." He took off to the next tree, weaving his way through branches with expertise. This time I took no time to admire it, however, chasing after him to defend my self-acclaimed maturity.

"I said... I'm..not a brat!" I panted slightly after I had finally caught up to him, but I didn't wait to argue my point once more. There was that flicker in his eyes again, but there was no way I was going to let him scare me. He may be Humanity's Strongest, but he was still part of humanity. And I was... No. No, I was human too, and therefor we were equals when it came down to bone and blood. I actually felt the hint if a smug smile tug at my lips when I noticed that Corporal Levi was trying to stand up straighter so I wasn't looking down on him so much.

I felt said dwarf look me up and down, humming slightly. "Yes. You did say that. But I'm still your superior in age and rank, so that makes you a brat to me. Though your skills aren't bad, not many are able to catch up to me that easily." I blinked twice at the unexpected praise, but then a frown found itself stumbling across my face and I looked at the Corporal incredulously.

"Easily? Are you kidding? You're like, inhumanly fast. Is your gear rigged? Or do you have to use different gear all the time because you burn out the motor? And I swear if I didn't have Titan healing powers I'd have quite the collection of bruises and scrapes from trying to chase my superior through a forest!" I paused in the middle of my rant, furrowing my brow and trying I decipher the expression on my Corporal's face. It almost looked like he was trying hard not to laugh, or at least let out a small chuckle, so he was trying to cover it up with a smirk. 

"Shitty brat." He cuffed me over the ear, and the playful mood immediately vanished. I shrunk bank to avoid his touch, expression reverting to fear and pain at the remembrance of what seemed to be constant kicks or prods to 'discipline' me. The amusement faded from Corporal Levi's eyes and his smirk turned into a slight frown as he slowly moved his hand away and took a step back. We stood there for a moment more before the Corporal cleared his throat.

"You need to keep your emotions in check. You are a brat-" he glared at me here and I scowled back,"-and your emotions are everywhere. Just by calling you a shitty brat I was able to goad you into chasing me around, and your annoyance and anger dulled your skills."

And with that he turned on his heel (in what could honestly only be defined in a very sassy way) and started the trip back to the old castle. I followed deftly, trying to focus on not shooting myself into a tree and not falling too far behind. When we were putting away, and of course cleaning, our 3DMG was when Humanity's Strongest spoke again.

"Oi, shitty brat. You're to meet me out here after lunch every other day now, so make sure you're not late. If you are, I'm not waiting, and you'll be on stable duty for a week." I winced at the threat and the sudden coldness in my superiors voice, surprised that I had forgotten how he usually spoke with such calculating cruelty and that the laughter I had just recently heard in his voice had been an exception.

"Yes Sir. Uh, but, Sir?" He threw me a glare, daring me to say it. I did. "I'm not a brat."


	3. The Inhumanity of the Strong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MWAHAHAHA I finally finalized the plot of this fic! GOLD STAR FOR MEH~

Levi's POV

 

As hard as I tried to ignore it, there was a growing buzz in the back if my mind, leaping in proportion every time I saw Yeager. It wasn't the fizzy feeling I felt I first saw him, and it wasn't the minuscule feeling of being impressed whenever he disregarded rank and argued with me. No, this was pure annoyance. At first I hadn't taken notice to it, but then...

It happened every time I walked into the same room that Yeager was in: the slight stiffening, the small step away from me. Sometimes there would even be a quick glance to the door, and once he tried to engage in a conversation with someone else to avoid me. I knew it wasn't residual feelings of fear or resentment from the trial, no, that had never been a problem. So this left me in a very uncomfortable position, in which the attractive Titan shifter was scared of me for reasons I didn't know.

So this afternoon, when he came in to my room to bring me my tea and immediately tried to shuffle away a bit so he wasn't within my reach while he waited to be dismissed, I decided to confront him on it.

"Oi. What's up with that?" Yeager stiffened a bit and averted his gaze before answering, and I scowled at him.

"What's up with what, sir?" I uncrossed my legs and set down my tea before leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms and recrossing my legs.

"Tch. You know perfectly well what I'm talking about. That thing you do whenever we're in the same room." I watched with narrowed eyes as he looked around my room for a few seconds before raising his head. His eyes were clear and hardened with resolve, and there was that small Caribbean fire that signified a moment of rebellion. I raised an eyebrow, and he clenched his fists at his sides.

"Well, Sir, I'm not sure if you would understand this, but usually people don't use pain as their preferred discipline method. And when they do, it may not leave visible scars, but they tend to leave behind a fear." Yeager looked me in the eye during the whole thing, daring me to argue.

"Oi, shitty brat, don't forget who you're talking to. You speak of fear of pain, but you seem to have no qualms in standing up to your superior." I picked up the cup of tea again, taking small sips and trying to hide the fact that what he said had actually bugged me.

"I'm not scared of you. I just...don't want someone like you touching me. Or even very close to me. Now, if you'd excuse me, Squad Leader Hanji requested my presence to let me try to shift in that old well we found the other day. She said you're welcome to join her." And without waiting for me to dismiss him, he turned on his heel and left my room.

I sat down the cup again and cradled my head in my hands, wondering why the hell my chest felt so tight. Stupid brat. I took in a breath, trying to work out what he had said that had upset me so much. We'd only been at the castle for a short while relatively, so there was no way I had actually grown fond of the brat, but...

I guess... I was disappointed. When it came down to it, the only people who didn't mind my presence were Erwin and Hanji, now that Petra was... I shook my head, bringing my thoughts back to focus. Years ago, I was granted the title of Humanity's Strongest, a huge honor of course. But no one ever asked me if I wanted the title, no one ever asked me if I wanted that responsibility. 

My whole life, I had learned through experience that the only way to come out alive was to go in number one. So over the years I became hardened, my actions only taken to ensure another day to see the Sun rise. And when Erwin took me into the Survey Corps, and he gave me my Wings of Freedom, the walls didn't go down. Instead, I instinctively put up more walls, completely cutting off from anyone around me.

So no one asked if I wanted the title of Humanity's Strongest, but I took it anyways. I thought it would be perfect; what other way to stay number one, to stay alive, then to let everyone know of me? And then I realized something: accepting this title meant that I could never take down my barriers. It wasn't enough that I was the strongest on the battlefield, to be Humanity's Strongest I had to abandon all human emotion. After all, what makes humans weak is when their emotions take control, and the only real way to make sure that never happened would be to erase all human emotion from my being.

But Erwin and Hanji were the only two human emotions I couldn't push away, so I chose to cling to them instead. If one of them died, I would probably lose myself, flushed away in the current of emotion never to gain my title again. Every time Yeager defied me, he was acknowledging that I too was human. Every time he stood up to me he dared me to prove him wrong, to beat him or crush him to show that I was Humanity's Strongest and not just.... Human. That brat...

I used to think that his hero worship disappeared because he was afraid of me, but now I think that what was much more likely was that he simply came to the conclusion that there was nothing to worship. He didn't look at my title, or my skills, or even my personality. He looked right through every single one of my barriers and saw a human just like everyone else, scared and vulnerable if caught in the right moment. It was that true perception of me that allowed him to stand up to me, and what caused my chest to grow tight in his presence. The hope that I had found another person who truly saw me. 

And that's why what he said made me feel so disappointed. I was disappointed in the fact that even though he saw that i was human, he also saw me as someone who he didn't want to be around. It seems so odd to be looked at like that so easily yet to be thrown away just as quickly. I felt the need to know why he pushed me away, though I think I already knew. 

I should have been more careful, and I should've realized earlier: That brat and I... We are the same. Humanity's Strongest and its Last Hope, two humans forced into roles in which they are treated as something that's not. And perhaps it was worse for Yeager, for while I was treated as something better than Humanity he was treated as something worse and still expected to shoulder the responsibility of saving everyone.

I rubbed at my eyes with the heels of my hands, annoyed that I had spent so much time thinking about Yeager. Dumb little shit was on my brain too much, and it was about time he left it.

...or so I thought as I got up to find Hanji and Yeager to watch them attempt to get him to shift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it was a bit short, this chapter was mainly to set up the next ones.


	4. Who Would Make My Tea if You Died?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the shortie

Eren's POV

To tell the truth, I was genuinely surprised when Corporal Levi showed up at the old well, even before Hanji did. I had been sitting at the edge of the well with my legs dangling down into it when I heard movement behind me, and while now I realize that it had been much too quiet for it to be Hanji, I had stood up and smiled to greet the Squad Leader.

Instead, I was greeted by a scowling Corporal, the person I least expected to show up- especially after I had stood up to him not five minutes before.

"What're you smiling for, brat?" I immediately clenched my fists and opened my mouth to protest the nickname, but before I could say anything Corporal Levi rolled his eyes and waved his hand as if waving away whatever I had to say. "Yeager." I blinked twice, mouth still opened to argue with him, shocked that he had corrected himself like that.

I was trying to process what to say next, or if I should apologize for earlier, but just then Hanji came skipping over and practically pounced on the Corporal.

"Levi~ I'm so glad you decided to join us!" Said Corporal shoved her off roughly, dusting himself off and scowling. I smiled slightly at the sight, but quickly turned it into a smirk when Corporal Levi caught me looking.

"Oi, are you trying to waste our time? Get in the damn well shitty brat." This time he narrowed his eyes at me, daring me to try to protest. I accepted the challenge.

"I'm not a brat!" Corporal Levi let out an annoyed sigh, and I swear I saw his eye twitch, but there was no wave of the hand or correction this time. Maybe he just did it last time to interrupt me...?

"Well, as much as a I hate to break up your little staring contest, Levi does have a point. I wanted to check the results on one of my other experiments before lunch, and Eren you have training with Levi after this." Levi scowled, and I groaned and went back over to the edge of the well. I looked down, swallowing at the distance I had to jump.

"Tch. Just jump, you good for nothing trainee-"The Corporal walked over and I felt my eyes widen as I figured he was going to push me down.

"No! Don't touch-I mean, uhh. Don't... Don't push me down into wells. Sir." I looked down at the ground, mentally bashing my head against a brick wall for letting that slip. I flicked my eyes upward, but when I saw that Corporal Levi had froze completely and looked shocked and....hurt? I turned and hesitated only a moment before jumping down into the well with a bone jarring landing.

Hanji's face immediately appeared over the edge to make sure I was okay and ask if I was alright, to which I replied that ya my Titan healing powers had that one covered, but the Corporal never joined her. I wondered if he was still frozen in place, staring at the space were I had stood, but the thought made my stomach turn with guilt so I forced it into the back of my mind. I brought a hand up to my mouth and bit down and-

Nothing happened. And it hurt like hell. There was no steam though, no evidence that it was healing. I bit down again and again, bloodying my hand until there were strips of flesh hanging loose and I was in so much pain that I couldn't see straight, but nothing happened. I felt the panic that had been bubbling inside me shift suddenly into something closer to despair, and I let out a shout. Hanji's face appeared once more over the edge of the well, and her eyes grew wide at the site of my blood painting my hands and face.

"Ha-Hanji...I... I can't transform..." It came out choked beneath layers of copper and red, and now Corporal Levi's head was there too. His eyes too grew wide, but they quickly reverted to their normal half lidded state.

"Stupid brat! The hell are you doing down there? You were able to transform before, why can't you now?" I stood there, shaking, and I saw his eyes soften slightly with concern when I didn't protest the nickname. "Tch. Hanji, to get a ladder or rope or some shit. We've got to get him out of there, and it's probably approaching lunch time anyway."

I don't know how much time passed before a rope was tossed down to me, but soon I was being hauled up by my superiors. I collapsed onto the ground, and I once more saw Corporal Levi's eyes soften with what looked to be worry.

"Oi, let me see. You have to clean that, so come o- Hanji. Go... Go take Eren to fix up his hand. I'm going to lunch." I felt my stomach turn again when the Corporal's voice immediately hardened when I flinched away from his touch, but I made no move to take back the action.

Hanji did indeed take me to get my hand cleaned up then, and soon I was sitting down at an outdoor table eating lunch with the rest of the squad. They actually seemed to be warming up to me, but I wasn't really in the mood to socializing and picked at my food moodily.

For most of my life I thought that I was human, nothing less. Nothing more, either. But then I had became the Titan Shifter, Humanity's Last Hope, and I wasn't that boy who just wanted out of the walls anymore. I was lost. I anchored onto the powers that had caused the mess, but now that they had disappeared.... Who was I supposed to be?

I glared at my food and tried stabbing at it with a spoon, but the spoon clattered off the plate and hit the ground. I glared at the ground, too, and bent down to pick it up, and then... Then I was surrounded by my squad. I stared at them all wide-eyed as I took in what was happening. I had bent down to pick up a spoon, but then all of a sudden my arm had grown large and hot and heavy and in no time flat the people I thought were excepting me had turned their blades on me. I felt myself shake a little as I looked one of them in the eyes and saw only the cold intent to kill a monster, and I prayed for a miracle. I got it.

"Stand down!" In all the commotion, the Corporal had drawn his blades as well, presumably to take down the monster in his charge, but had instead turned his back on me to stand up to his squad. "I said stand down! That's an order! Put away your blades... He's not going to hurt you."

"But, Sir-"

"No!" And with that he put away his blades, hoisting himself up to help me pull my arm out of the mass if muscle. Below us Hanji freaked out about samples, but I ignored her. I noted blankly that the Corporal seemed to be hesitant about touching me, and I felt yet another wave of guilt roll over me.

He helped me free, though, and somehow we ended up on the bottom steps to my dungeon. Under different circumstances I would've smirked at how Corporal Levi made sure to stay a step above me, or I would've thanked him for his help. Maybe I would've apologized for what I said earlier, or maybe I would've asked him why he so quickly turned his back on the Titan to turn his blades towards his squad. Instead I collapsed, holding my head in my hands.

"Wh-What... Just now... I didn't even do anything... I though that maybe they were warming up to me, but the thy were going to... They were going to kill... They really don't trust me, do they?" I wasn't crying, just shaking and scared and uncomprehending.

"Of course they don't trust you, brat. That's why I chose them." I looked up at him in utter disbelief, but he wasn't looking a me. He stared straight forward at the wall, and I wondered if it was possible he saw some speck of dirt he didn't like.

"...W-What?"

"That's why they're alive. Because they don't trust anyone or anything. That's why I chose them." I buried my head back in my hands, and I heard him sigh. "Look, it's nothing personal. They just do what they had to do to stay alive. It's what everyone does. If something big and Titan-like suddenly appears, of course you'd want to get rid of it. Anyone would."

"...You didn't." Corporal Levi looked at me sharply, and I looked down before continuing. "I... I mean thanks. For not letting them kill me." The smallest of smirks appeared on the Corporal's face, and he leaned over and ruffled my hair. I scowled, but realized that what he had just done for me extinguished any need to flinch away from his touch when he looked slightly relieved.

"Who would make my tea if you died? Your death would be problematic for me as well as humanity, so it's not like I could let them." He extended a hand, face returning back to an emotionless slate as I felt the smallest of smiles crowd its way onto mine. "Come on. I want to finish lunch, and Shitty Glasses probably wants to freak out over you in person."


	5. A Bucket of Water

Levi's POV

 

I couldn't say how I felt about the whole spoon incident. I guess it was beneficial, we were able to figure out what caused Yeager to shift, but something was bugging me about the whole thing. Despite what I had said to him in his dungeon, I wasn't sure why I was so quick to turn my back on the enemy. If I had thought it through, I would have seen that Yeager really wasn't dangerous at that moment and that it would be a waste to kill him off, but the thing was that I hadn't thought it through. Not even a little.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair for what seemed to be the millionth time that day, and I felt the Titan shifter send me a look. We were out training since we weren't able to do so yesterday after said spoon incident, but both of us had our minds elsewhere. 

"Sir? Are you... Are you okay? I mean... There seems to be a lack of shit jokes, and I'm starting to get concerned that your going to leave your hair permanently ruffled like that." I landed and leaned against the trunk behind me, and Yeager landed beside me, looking a bit anxious.

"Tch. It's fine. I'm fine. Even if I weren't, it wouldn't be any of your business." I looked away, hoping he wouldn't see through the lie.

"...Are you in trouble with Commander Erwin or the MP because of me?" I shook my head, glad that that wasn't a lie. "Then... Are you sure you're okay?" I sighed once more, but lowered my hand before it finished its way to my hair. 

"Yes. Come on brat, lets start heading back." He scowled at me, knowing I would understand without him having to protest verbally. "You're a brat to me. Now get your ass in motion, it's cleaning day and you have window duty." I turned my back on the boy, feeling my lips twitch upward in a smile when I heard him groan, and started heading back to hand out chores to my squad.

We made our way back in silence, save for the whir of 3D Maneuver Gear. I didn't even sigh once the whole journey back, but I felt Yeager's eyes continue to flick over to me more than once with what was probably more useless concern. Useless as it was, I felt my cheeks become slightly heated, and I avoided eye contact with him.

After we got back and everyone got started on their chores, I found myself a nice quiet room to begin my own cleaning. Erwin came by once, but he quickly noted that I wasn't in a very social mood and left me to my thoughts. I had let my mind seriously consider what would've happen to Yeager if I wasn't around to save his ass at every turn while I was scrubbing at a particularly stubborn skid mark when I heard someone approach me. I was planning on ignoring them, but they cleared their throat awkwardly and I sighed as I realized that it was probably the Titan shifting brat currently on my mind.

"Umm... Sir? Are you going to be done soon? I only have these windows left to get... So...." I turned to face him, frowning.

"You finished that quickly?" He blinked at me, and I raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to check those windows, brat, and if I find a single smudge you're redoing them all." 

"I'm not a brat!" I smirked at the taller boy, surprised that I was actually in better spirits just from being in his company. I left my cleaning supplies where they were to check the windows, glaring at Yeager when I almost tripped over the bucket if water he left outside the door. I didn't have to walk far to reach a window, and I rolled my eyes when I immediately spotted a small streak that he had missed in the upper right corner.

"Oi, brat, bring that bucket over here!" He did so, grumbling his standard 'I'm not a brat' retort as he did so. "What's that?"

"Ughhh. It's just one smudge, Sir, can I just take care of it and leave it be?" I glared at him, and he rolled his eyes. He actually rolled his eyes at me. If it was anybody else, they'd be on stable duty for the next week, but with Yeager... 

"Watch who you're rolling your eyes at, brat. You're going to redo all of the windows, and this time you'd better do it like you give a shit." His fists clenched at his sides, and he looked from me to the window to the bucket of water in his hand and then at me again. And then he did the unthinkable.

He took the fucking bucket of water and poured it over my head. The cold water was probably filthy, but that didn't stop it from soaking my uniform. My hair drooped into my eyes, and I felt an involuntary shiver run its way through my body. My mind immediately tried to think of the most painful way to kill Yeager, but for some reason all I could do was stand there blankly.

The brat at fault stuck his tongue out at me before throwing the bucket down and running away. Yet I still stood there, shivering slightly, staring at the spot he had recently occupied. I was beyond pissed off, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't direct my anger at the Titan shifter. I eventually shook my head, small beads of water flying across the room, before reconstructing my emotionless expression. 

I set the bucket upright and turned around to head to my room to change, but I caught sight of movement out the door and I realized that the brat hadn't actually run away and had been watching my inward battle the whole time. I felt heat rush to my cheeks for the second time that day, and I scowled. Shitty brat.

~~~  
Hanji's POV

When I met a flustered Eren running away from what was supposedly empty room, I obviously wanted to know why. So I stopped him, and after much prodding, got him to tell me the whole story. I then proceeded to look him up and down and decided to ask him a question I had simply been dying to know the answer to for the past few days.

"Sooo~~ You like Levi then?" Eren immediately turned bright red, and I grinned somewhat devil-ishly. 

"W-what the hell Hanji!? What did I say just then that implied that!?" I wiggled my eyebrows at him, and he groaned. "Hanji, please don't say anything to him... Or anyone for that matter..."

"Oh don't worry Eren~ I'm much better at keeping secrets than what is commonly believed. But I'm totally going to hook you guys up now!" Eren let out a hopeless groan and dropped his head into his hands. I pat his head a couple of times, but then skipped away. I had something much more pressing to do then to comfort the Titan-boy.

I knocked on Levi's door once I had reached my destination, for what could be more important than finding out if my little Levi baby was crushing on someone?

"What?" I took that as permission to go in, and walked in on a shirtless Levi in the process of getting himself a dry shirt. He turned around sharply, but let out a sigh of relief when he saw it was just me and turned back around to finish his task. "Oi, Shitty Glasses, what do you want? I'm kinda in the middle of something here." I went over to his bed and plopped myself down onto it, bouncing with excitement.

"Oh nothing much~ Just a simple question, really..." At this, Levi gave me a slightly concerned look, and I cackled. "It's just that I heard the whole story from our dear little Titan shifter, and I couldn't help but think, 'Gee, isn't it odd that Humanity's Strongest didn't do something rash like, I don't know, kill the idiot who dumped dirty water on him?' And I decided that there was only one possible answer!" 

By now, I had Levi's full attention, and I grinned widely when his face drained slightly. "So, do you?" 

"Do I what? Specify, Four Eyes, I can't read minds." 

"Do you have a massive crush on Eren!? I thought the question was obvious!" Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. Levi was blushing. Levi was blushing. Yup. That answered that, then. I squealed with delight, jumping up and tackling the short Corporal.

"I-I don't know what... Of course not.... Stupid... Dumb..." I pinched at his cheeks as he tried to shove me off him, which were still faintly dusted with blush.

"Oh, don't even try to deny it! You're stammering, and you're blushing, and OH MY GOD LEVI YOU'RE SO CUTE~~~" Levi finally managed to push me off him, and I landed on my butt. I looked up at him as he held a hand over his mouth and looked away, and a thought came to me. "Oh my gosh Levi! Did you only realize NOW that you liked Eren?! I cannot believe you are so utterly oblivious to your own emotions!"

"I don't like him! He's just another shitty brat for me to look after." He looked anywhere but at me while he was speaking, and once again I was given the answer I wanted.

"Awww my poor Levi~ This whole time you were probably wondering why you couldn't beat him up without feeling guilty, huh? Well I have a simple solution for you now! March right up to Eren and confess to him! I now officially ship you guys, so I'm making your life hell until you tell him." Levi groaned, and I could see him fighting to regain his composure.

"Stop spouting nonsense. And get out of my room." I squealed once more before moving off Levi's bed, but turned when he sighed. "And I swear Hanji, if you start spreading rumors I will slit your throat. That... That includes Yeager. Especially Yeager. Don't mention any of this to him. You'd just be planting lies in his mind anyway." I grinned and nodded before skipping out of his room, already brainstorming ways to get the two of them in a relationship. 

I saw Levi and Eren one last time that day at dinner, and I grinned when I noticed that both of them had taken up spots on complete opposite sides of the room. Eren seemed to be jumpy and was getting flustered easily, but Levi had completely shut everyone out for the time being, and I could see him silently struggling with his thoughts. And when I saw him take a particularly violent stab at his meal, I swore to get them together if it was the last thing I did.


	6. Don't You Dare Turn Your Back

Eren's POV

 

"Hey Titan kid! Hey, are you awake?" There was a sound as if someone were sniffing at me, but I ignored it and tried to fall back asleep. "Well you're definitely awake, I can smell you. Eren! Holy shit, how does the Corporal manage this every morning? You're like a fucking rock! Get up!" I groaned and rolled over, only to realize that I was out of cot space as I landed painfully on my back and had the wind knocked out of me. I was still half asleep, so I almost expected to hear Corporal Levi make some comment about my incapabilities. When no such comment came, I finally sat up and looked over at Mike, who was sniffing at me again.

"Nnnnn... Where's.... Where's Corpal? Corpial? Ughhhhh... Corp..." Mike laughed loudly at my half asleep attempts to form words, and I bunched up my face with displeasure at the sudden noise.

"Corporal? Again, I wonder how he manages to deal with you each morning. He said he didn't want to see you today, so I was to come down to fetch you." That woke me up. He must be really mad at me for yesterday... I looked at my feet sullenly, wondering if he hated me. Served me right, I suppose. Still, I felt my chest tighten at the thought.

"Mm. Mkay." After that we didn't say anything more to each other, the only sounds as I got ready for the day and walked down to the dining hall was the occasional sniff from Mike. 

I saw the Corporal once when I first entered the dining hall, but when he caught sight of me his eyes widened a bit and he disappeared in the direction of his room. Once again my chest squeezed tight, and I wondered why he hadn't been acting like this at dinner last night. Last night he had seemed...well slightly peeved I suppose, but he seemed more to be keeping to himself and thinking. Maybe he had been devising ways to kill me slowly, and he had decided the now efficient way would be to leave me alone in the midst of his squad; a bomb waiting to go off at the slightest trigger.

When I went to see Hanji later that day, I tried to send her a look to tell her that I didn't want to talk about the piece of gossip she got her claws on last night, but of course she either completely missed it or she ignored it.

"Awww my poor little Titan baby~ Is Levi playing hard to get?" I scowled, more so at the blush I knew had found its way onto my cheeks than at the squad leader.

"Shut up Hanji, I really pissed him off last night. Apparently he told Mike to come get me this morning because he didn't want to see me..." Saying it aloud made it all the more real, and I felt the weight of a thousand boulders bury me under their worries.

"Awww... That was mean... Don't worry Eren, I'm pretty sure he didn't want to see you for a completely different reason than being mad at you. I still can't believe that you actually dumped water on him! I wish I had been there..." I felt a small smile curl my lips upward at the memory, because honestly the moment by itself had been pretty sweet.

"Oh Hanji, his expression...ohhhhh man though look were that got me... He already hates that I don't treat him like my commanding officer that much..." I trailed off, thinking back to all the times I had blatantly ignored the fact that he was my superior.

"Well that one I know isn't true. And for the record, I still think you should tell him that you like him. You guys would be so cute~" I sighed and shook my head, ready to get off the subject.

"Oh yes, I would be absolutely adorable with a blade through my forehead. Are you going to bug me about this all day, or can we try to make some progress on my Titan powers?" Hanji cackled, but I was honestly tired with the whole thing. Worrying about how much the corporal hated me was exhausting, and I was so done with it.

 

~~~

 

The following day I was also woken up by Mike, but he didn't say that the Corporal had canceled our training, so I ended up here. 'Here' being outside his door, half curious about what his quarters looked like and the half extremely annoyed that I had been waiting for 20 minutes to see if he was going to show up for training. I had eventually decided that he wasn't going to and stomped over to his room to ask him where the hell he was. I knocked on the door loudly, silently fuming to myself even as he opened up the door slightly to peer out at me (it was honestly adorable, like a cat, but I was capable of being mad at adorable cats if the circumstance called for it).

"Brat. What do you want?" I threw my hands up into the air with an exasperated sigh before thinking 'screw it' and pushing open his door completely. I saw his eyes widen a bit, but he made no move to close the door again.

"First off, not a brat. And what do I want? Are you kidding me? Look, I'm sorry for dumping water on you, but-"

"No you aren't." I blinked at him, surprised that he had butt in to argue with me about that.

"...no. I'm not. But in the case of subordinate to superior apologies are meant to be formal, not heartfelt." I could've sworn his scowl almost looked a bit hurt and not quite as condescending, but I ignored it in favor of getting to the point. "But seriously, you can't just skip out on training like that! I was waiting for like, a million hours out in the heat and guess who came? No one! I know you're mad at me, but you can't just avoid me for forever... And I'd rather not have you ignore me anyway..." I looked away at the last part, mentally scolding myself that I was flirting with the same person I was simultaneously chewing out.

I wasn't quite sure if he caught it or not, but I saw a couple of his fingers twitch, and his expression looked slightly less annoyed. He sighed, then ran a hand through his hair. I was starting to wonder why it seemed he always did that around me, and I had been wondering for quite a while what it would feel like to run a hand of my own through his hair.

"I highly doubt that you were waiting for a million hours. And you've got some nerve to come pound on my door to bitch at me." I flinched, wondering if I had gone too far. "But... It's okay. I'm really not all that mad about the water thing the other night. I just had some things to think about yesterday." I felt my face contort with confusion and surprise, but I didn't have time to think much about what he said because suddenly there was a hand around the strap going across my chest and I was being tugged along behind the Corporal.

"W-what are you doing?" I felt my face go bright red, and I couldn't tear my eyes off the fingers that he had voluntarily put into contact with me, but I knew he answered me without glancing back at me.

"Tch. I thought you wanted to go train? Don't tell me you just wanted an excuse to complain, brat, because that I would have a problem with." Even in my flustered state, I felt the familiar annoyance bubble up within me.

"I'm not a brat!" I heard the Corporal give a low chuckle, and I quickly snapped my mouth shut to cut off anything else I was going to say lest it interfere with my ability to hear that sound. So that's how we spent the rest of the walk to the area we had been training in, with his fingers still loosely looped around my harness (he had moved them lower so that he could walk comfortably without letting go) and me with my head down trying to avoid any and all conversation, as I knew I wouldn't be able to handle it in my current situation.

After that, my training proceeded as normal, though the Corporal still seemed to be getting distracted easily. But the banter and back-and-forth insults and protests were still there, and he never let up on the 'brat' nickname. I had almost convinced myself that he had completely forgotten about the previous events, but of course that would be too good to be true.

"Oi, brat."

"Not a brat." The response was automatic, fitting perfectly in the break between his words.

"Why did you dump that water on me?" I looked over at him, but he wasn't looking at me and was focusing on the branch beneath his feet as I tried to perfect a twirl between three different branches. "Wrong question. Why do you do... All of it? The objections, arguments, you've even insulted me a few times."

"That's 'cuz anyone with a height of two feet deserves to be teased." He glared at me, but I pretended to ignore him as I yet again had to untangle the wire from my 3DMG and try again.

"Like that. Anyone else would have the common sense to not act that way with their superior, so why don't you?" I paused in what I was doing to shoot him a look, and he caught it and scowled at the ground.

"Are you asking me why I don't have common sense or why I called you short? Because if it's the second one, you're gonna have to take it up with your parents." He snapped his head up, but I had already launched myself into the air. "Go find Jean. He'll tell you. Stupid Horseface dubbed me Suicidal Bastard for all my time in the 104th."

I heard Corporal Levi chuckle softly to himself, and I took a moment to thank whatever gods existed that I was able to hear that chuckle twice in one day. I saw Corporal Levi open his mouth to respond, and I saw his lips moving, but no sound came out. I twirled in the air to get a better look at him, trying to tell him to speak up, but then no sound came from my mouth. I frowned, straining my ears to find even the familiar whir of the 3 Dimensional Maneuver Gear. I tried to shift my weight to change direction, to head back to the Corporal for help, but suddenly my body was too heavy to move, and the edges of my vision began to grow fuzzy as I hit a tree dead on. I swung back on where the 3DMG was hooked in, but the line strained and snapped. And then all was black.


	7. Poison

Levi's POV

 

I almost had a heart attack when I saw the brat ram himself into a tree, instantly giving him a nose bleed and what sounded like a broken nose, and I had already sprung into action when he began to fall. Unfortunately, and to my endless worry, I was only able to catch him after he had fallen a bit, so he gained a couple scratches and bruises from going through thin branches and he appeared to have broke a leg from hitting into a larger one.

I flew back to the castle as fast as I could go carrying Yeager, who was much lighter than I expected. And I managed to not let myself get distracted by how warm he was, or how soft his hair was, or how good he smelled... Shit. I was so screwed. When I reached our base, I went straight to Hanji, not bothering to put away my gear.

"Fix him!" I was growing more anxious with every second he spent with his eyes closed, he was supposed to have magical healing powers goddamn it!

"Woah, aren't you a bit wound up~ What happened?" 

"I don't know! He was flying around just fine, but then he turned in the air to tell me to speak louder, and then he rammed into a tree, and then his wire snapped, and then he fell, and he fell like 20 fucking meters before I was able to catch the shitty brat, and then-" I was interrupted by Hanji's obnoxious laughter, scowling to myself when I realized I had been rambling. "Just fix him!"

"Okay, first off, you can't just fix someone. I don't know what's wrong that his Titan healing powers aren't fixing, so we should start by figuring out what happened to him. But before I help you..." She grinned at me in a very creepy manner, but I ignored it and motioned for her to continue. "You have to admit to me that you like Eren." I felt my face go slightly red, and I looked away.

"Tch. Shitty Glasses, stop spouting nonsense."

"Oh come on! You can't deny it! Just look at how your holding him right now!" I glanced down at the Titan Shifter, still unmoving in my arms. "You could have set him down when you reached me, but instead you kept him clutched to your chest like that." I felt my face heat up a bit more, scowling at a spot behind Hanji. I knew I wasn't getting out of this, and I'd rather not have her continue to voice the pieces if my behavior I had been trying to deny were there, so I decided to give in. 

"Fine! Just... Shut up. And please help him!" I glanced back down at him, concern ceasing to lessen.

"Awww, you even said please. I can't believe that you gave in so quickly... You must really care for him~ Well, as cute as that was, I heard no confession..." I groaned, steeling myself for this next unthinkable what-I-wish-was-a-lie.

"Damn you Shitty Four-eyes... It's highly possible that I'm... overly fond of the shitty brat. Are we done now?" I averted my gaze yet again at Hanji's loud squealing, wishing my blush away.

After that, we worked mostly in relative quiet. I took care of Yeager (much to Hanji's excitement), making sure he had a proper bed to sleep on and a keeping cool, damp cloth on his forehead until his fever went down a bit. I had to set his leg and nose and cleaned his cuts, because none of his wounds appeared to be healing. Hanji and I had had a bit of an argument over who's bed he would sleep in, of course she wanted him in mine, and honestly I wanted him there too, but I wouldn't have it. 

After he was settled, we sat down to think about what could've caused this. Hanji thought first to check his gear, since the wire shouldn't have snapped like that. We completely disassembled his gear, wondering what on earth could've caused such a fault. The sight was unnerving, terrifying even, because it was so obvious.

"...Shit."

 

~~~  
Eren's POV

 

The room I woke up in was cold, but not damp like the dungeon the Corporal locked me in overnight. And it was bright, much too bright to be the dungeon. I sat up carefully, taking in my surroundings. Someone had placed me on a bed (an actual bed!), but there was no one else in the room. I started to push off the covers to get out of bed and find my clothes when I heard the door begin to open and immediately yanked the covers back up and raised a hand to my mouth.

"Oh Ereeeennnnn~ You up ye- Ohhhhh, nice reaction! Do you always threaten to turn yourself into a Titan when someone enters a room? Have you ever done it? Would it work?" Hanji practically bounced through the door and over to my bed, and I let out a sigh before lowering the hand from in front of my mouth.

"No, not always, but I woke up in a strange room and heard someone coming, so ya I assumed there would be danger. I have no idea if it would've worked. So this is your room, then? What happened?" I almost expected Hanji not to let me change the topic like that, but I guess that she thought the answers I gave were sufficient for now.

"You don't remember? Interesting... I wonder why.... Anyway, you passed out during your training with Levi! I've been pestering Levi about it, but all he'll say is that you should've been more careful. And then he calls you a shitty brat." I scowled, and Hanji laughed. "Anyway, the truth is that you've been recuperating for a while, so how do you feel now? I mean, you fell about 20 meters before Levi caught you-"

"He what?!" I practically gagged out the words, surprised he cared enough to try and save me from biting the ground. "I mean... Would it have mattered? With Titan healing powers, would I have died like normal people?" Hanji shrugged, momentarily pausing before babbling on.

"I don't know. Guess Levi didn't either, just would've rather not taken the chance." I felt a smile tug at my lips, but I ignored it and decided to continue with my questions.

"So then why am I in your room and not mine?" Another shrug, this time accompanied by a very devil-like smile.

"Well, Levi wanted you okay as soon as possible, so he wanted you in a real bed but refused to let you sleep in his room. The other members of his squad... Well, you can imagine they'd be a bit uncomfortable with a Titan shifter in their beds, so I let you sleep in mine." She gave me... I don't even know how to describe such a look, knowing? Teasing? I don't know, but I felt heat rush to my face as I heard Hanji cackle at my awkwardness.

"Ahh-Okay. Thanks, Sir, but, umm-" 

"You would've rather slept with Levi? Trust me, I know, and I tried to convince him, but he glared daggers at me just for thinking it." She let out another cackle, and I felt my face burn brighter.

"Th-that's not what I-"

"But, ya know, if it makes you feel any better, Levi totally flipped out when you passed out. He carried you over to me, all bridal style and everything, and was like-"

"Hanji!" Both said squad leader and I stiffened and shut up immediately, and I wondered if my face could grow any more red as I shifted my gaze to the ground to avoid looking into the Corporal's piercing glare. "Yeager. Whatever nonsense Shitty Glasses was spouting right then, forget it."

"Oh, but Levi~ You were so scared and protective it was adorable~ Don't you want Eren to-" I muffled a soft laugh when Corporal Levi slapped a hand over Hanji's mouth, but I could still feel my face burning. I heard the Corporal clear his throat before whispering something to Hanji, but I looked down quickly and smiled to myself when I saw that he had a slight blush dusted across his cheeks. 

"U-um... Corporal.. What happened?" I still refused to look up, and my face only grew more red as I stumbled over my words.

"You were drugged. Someone got ahold of the gear you use for training and tampered with it, putting poison into the gas and weakening your wires. I had you flying around pretty much in circles actually... It's a wonder you weren't seriously hurt from how much gas you took in..." I was slightly taken aback by the lack of insults, and looking up at him I felt my chest tighten. 

His face was contorted into a rare moment of emotion, mouth still scowling downwards but eyes suggesting that the incident had affected him a great deal more than he let on. I puzzled over it for a moment before also noting what appeared to be shame hidden in his expression and I realized that he probably blamed himself for what happened.

"...okay then, I'll finish telling you." I tore my eyes away from the Corporal reluctantly, but I still really wanted to know what had happened so I turned to face Hanji. "As Levi said, your gear had been tampered with. Your wires were thinned out in places, your gear was actually set completely off balance, and a very lethal poison was put into your gas tanks. We couldn't tell at first if your Titan healing powers were working, because you had some exterior wounds that weren't healing, but I guess all your energy had been focusing on fighting the poison. The culprit had to have been someone who knew exactly which gear you were using for training, and honestly I can't think of anyone who would know that besides Levi. And I think it's pretty obvious he didn't do it..."

We both glanced back over at said dwarf, and I had to suppress an urge to go over and hug him since he seemed so caught up in unpleasant thoughts. I started to reach out for him, but paused and quickly withdrew my hand, drawing his attention.

"Oh... It's just...you looked kinda...pained. I just...ya... Sorry. Um, it's not your fault, okay? You couldn't do anything about it, and I'm perfectly fine now. Well, actually, could I have a drink?" I directed the last part towards Hanji, who had been grinning at us as I had been awkwardly trying to comfort the Corporal.

I wasn't quite sure if it worked or not, I was too embarrassed to look back at him, but the air did feel slightly less heavy in his general direction. I briefly wondered how he would have reacted if I had gone with a hug instead of my verbal mess, but quickly tossed the thought. I preferred not to spend my time thinking up ways to die.

"Oh, of course! I'll be right back!" I mentally face palmed, of course she was going to leave if you asked for a drink. Now I was alone in the room with Corporal Levi, who was still a bit out of it.

"Oi....brat, are you sure you're okay? Even with your Titan healing powers and shit, you didn't wake up for three days..." I felt my eyes bug out in surprise, and I gagged over my words.

"T-three days? Really? Oh god...." I felt his eyes on me, unwavering yet uncertain, and I realized I hadn't answered his question. "Ya, I'm fine. Completely, 99% fine." I saw his brow furrow, and his frown deepened.

"What's the other one percent?" I felt my lips tug upwards in a smile, and I let it grow into a grin.

"Annoyed at being called a brat."


	8. Rage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for late updates. I'll post another chapter in a bit, along with some bad news for you guys.

Levi's POV

 

Rage. Pure rage. Over the past twelve hours, I had fought with my emotions in an effort to control them. My opponents were worry and annoyance and guilt and anger, the emotions I held as some of my least favorites. I lost that battle spectacularly, but now standing in front of my squad all other human emotions faded to scars on the back of my mind, waiting to tear open when I set eyes on the brat who had ignored the barriers I had put around my heart.

"Who wants to guess why you're all here instead of stuffing your faces with whatever the hell was made for breakfast?" I stood shorter than those gathered around me, but it was clear who had control over the crowd.

"You found a dirty plate?" A soft snicker was heard from someone near the back of my squad, and others were fighting smiles, but everyone sobered up when I shot them all a glare cold enough to freeze molten shit.

"Should I have found a dirty plate?" Olou's face flickered with worry; my whole squad feared the punishments I dealt out.

"No! I... No, sir." I nodded sharply at him before turning my head forward again, feeling another wave of rage sweep over me as I readied myself to tell my squad what had happened to Yeager.

"I'm sure that you all noticed the absence of Yeager these past few days. He'll be out of action for another day or two, because some idiot decided to fuck up my schedule." I cleared my throat before continuing, glancing over to where Hanji stood. "A few days ago, I had the Titan shifter out training, when he suddenly rammed himself into a tree and started to fall. This obviously shouldn't have happened. Can anyone tell me why?" I could see the looks on my squads faces grow more and more terrified- when I asked questions instead of just straight out laying out the facts, I was pissed. Erd's hand raised slightly, but he gave the answer without waiting to me to motion for him to speak.

"Because his line should've caught him..." Now there was confusion mixed with the fear, all except for Hanji, who was looking slightly interested but not 100% engaged.

"Correct. But the line snapped, so Yeager fell. Do any of you have enough brain in your heads to know what's wrong with that?" Everyone knew. Everyone knew that the lines never snapped, they were made that way. But no one volunteered to answer, so I answered the question myself. "I guess you're all more worthless than I thought. That shouldn't have happened because the line shouldn't have snapped. So when I got the brat back here, the first thing Hanji and I did was take apart his gear. Anyone of you shits want to guess what we found?" Nervous glances were exchanged, guesses silently traded.

"It had to have been one of us..." The words were quiet, but soon the understanding had passed to everyone in the room, and the rest of my squad understood the origin of my anger.

"That's right. One of you fuckers took Yeager's gear he uses for training and not only thinned out the wire, but also messed with the balance." More nervous glances. "And... And put a lethal poison into the gas." Most everyone took a sharp intake of breath, suddenly getting just as mad as I was.

"Wait, one of us tried to kill Eren?"

"Where'd they get the poison?"

"Oh, sure, because we all have access to Eren's gear and a bunch of lethal poison."

"Is he okay?" I turned back to Erd, the one who had asked the last question, and the room fell silent once more.

"Thankfully. His Titan healing powers struggled with the poison for three long days before fighting it back enough for him to wake up. He still needs to sleep, though, as residual effects of the poison remain. Also, while the brat had been focusing on not dying, he left a leg and nose to be repaired for later, the other reason he needs a few more days in bed." I saw Hanji grinning, and I was suddenly brought to awareness that my voice and expression had softened while talking about the shitty brat.

I left the group then, as I had said what I wanted, and they needed time to let this sink in. I had weighed the pros and cons of telling them, but I figured that they didn't quite trust anyone anyway so their suspicions of each other shouldn't be greatly affected. I walked briskly to Yeager's dungeon, where he had been moved after he woke up, but hesitated at the top of the steps.

I had been realizing the amount of time I spent with the brat probably wasn't normal, and had been trying to monitor it a bit more than I had been. Most of the time he was asleep anyway, oblivious to my watching eyes from the far wall. I sighed and made my way down the steps now, glad when I saw that Yeager was awake and sitting up. He saw me immediately, and gave a weak attempt at a salute.

"Corporal! Do you need something?" His voice came out rough and scratchy, and I wondered if the poison wasn't grabbing hold of him once more. I felt my expression shift to worry, and I did my best to hide it.

"No." I leaned against the wall opposite of the bars separating us, wondering why they had to be there. 

"Oh... Then why are you here?" His voice was starting to come back, so I felt some hope that it was only scratchy from disuse. I frowned at him for a moment before telling him to wait a moment and trudging back up the stairs. I came back a minute later with a glass I water, and I smirked when I saw Yeager lick his lips.

"You feeling any less shitty today?" I had now unlocked the cell door and had to set down the cup to unshackle the brat. I honestly thought that the shackles and cell were pointless, and I had no doubt that Yeager felt the same. But it was the order given to me, so I was forced to follow through. I stood by the cot as said brat drank his fill before handing me the cup back and thanking me. I grunted in response, and I found the Titan shifter's eyes on me.

"How'd your squad take the news that one of them had turned traitor?" Hanji and I had talked to Yeager before telling the squad to make sure he would be okay with it, but he had had no opinion over it.

"Brat. It's your squad too." The boy in front of me looked momentarily confused, as if he hadn't even considered the possibility before that he was one of us, but then his expression softened and I felt a tightness in my chest as he looked a me with pure gratitude and happiness.

"...Thanks. It's nice to know that at least some part of the human race considers me worthy to be a part of them." I raised an eyebrow, and he continued, though if the slight blush on his cheeks meant anything he was slightly embarrassed that he had even mentioned it in the first place. "I mean... I don't know how to explain it. It's just that even though I know I'm not a monster, being treated like one starts to degrade your opinion of yourself. So, when... The thing in the court room. And then having to be up into chains, even when I'm supposed to be recovering, and having to have Humanity's Strongest keep an eye on me 24/7, and then when everyone on yo- our squad turned on me with the spoon, and then learning one of them tried to kill me, and then...."

I chuckled softly at his rambling, but inside I felt yet more of the human emotions Humanity's Strongest had supposedly banned and knew they had painted themselves across my face. Grief, regret, shame, depression. The foes I dealt with were becoming stronger, more diverse. I barely put up a fight, letting the emotions take over my actions briefly. I sat down on the edge of the and looked at Yeager, searching his face for the pain I had heard in his words.

"...Yeager..." It came out softly, and even if he heard he didn't pause.

"All these things, they make me think..." The brat sighed, suddenly looking ashamed and sad. "When I couldn't shift in the well the other day, I panicked. And afterward I realized this: the reason I felt so terrified when I couldn't shift was because I wanted to. Not to help humanity, not to kill Titans, but because I had convinced myself that that was who I was. The Titan shifter toy of the Survey Corps." 

"Oi," I said, awkwardly placing my hand on top of his, "don't... Don't think like that. If you do, then all the people who make you feel that way...they've already won." I looked down at where our hands met, absently moving my thumb back and forth over his. His skin was really soft... I cleared my throat, shooting my hand back to my own person as I felt red dust my cheeks.

"T-thanks, Sir. Sorry I kinda just dumped that all on you just now..." My eyes flicked over to Yeager, but he wasn't looking at me so I returned my gaze to the floor.

"It's fine." I shifted my weight hesitantly before getting up, not turning to the Titan shifter as I continued my response. "And, brat... You would've made your way here no matter what. I know you would've. I know you probably don't believe me, but I know how you feel. About not being human. And I may pick at you a lot, but you're a good kid. And you're not half bad at some things. Right now... You probably feel unworthy or some shit. But you would've made it to my squad eventually. You just got a bit of a head start." 

I left the cell after that, and as I locked him in, I glanced back at the shackles hanging limp on the wall; not forgotten, not needed, not used. 

 

~~~  
Eren's POV

 

After Corporal Levi left, my emotions jumped everywhere all at once, not sure where to go or what to be. I sat there, my hand still burning from his touch, staring at the spot on my cot he had occupied. I don't know how much time passed before my mind began to function again, but I know it was long after Corporal Levi left my words for him made their way off my tongue, soft and pressed with a million desires.

"...I'm not a brat..."


	9. Cloud Gazing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the other chapter. Bad news at the end.

Eren's POV

 

It was another couple days until I had fully recovered, and during that time I got frequent visits from Hanji and Corporal Levi. Hanji came mostly to chat, but when the Corporal came there was much less talking. He would ask me how I felt (You still feel like shit?), or report the progress they had made in discovering my would-be murderer (All we know is that some worthless scum must have connections outside our squad to have gotten their greasy fingers on that poison), but after that he would usually watch me in silence.

Today was my first day seeing anyone other than those two since the incident, and I felt my stomach churn at the thought. It wasn't that I was scared of them, it was that I was scared of what they could do to me. The moment they set eyes on me, I could be dead, a higher dose of poison ingested or my head rolling away from my body. When Corporal Levi came to get me that morning, he noticed my fidgeting and raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think I could regrow a head?" I felt like I had been getting a bit better at reading the Corporal's almost emotionless expressions, but it took no effort to see that my question had surprised him.

"Brat. Even if you could, do you really think I'd let someone chop off your head?" I looked down, feeling my face grow red with shame and embarrassment. Even so, I felt some of my worry vanish with the knowledge that I had Humanity's Strongest watching my back. That I had Corporal Levi watching my back, actually, and the correction brought a small smile to my lips.

When I did see someone after making the trek up the stairs out of my dungeon, I was soon overwhelmed with questions. Mike had apparently smelled the Corporal and I coming a bit back and had called the others over, so I saw them all at once.

"How do you feel?" It had been asked about five times, but when it finally processed it was when Erd asked me how I was.

"Umm... Fine, I guess... I don't feel any of the effects of the poison, so..." There were more questions about how I felt, but mostly I had to answer the same questions about if I knew anyone who would try to kill me that Hanji and Corporal Levi had asked days ago. 

When I had had enough, I made an excuse about being hungry and slipped past everyone into the kitchen. Hanji was in there, drinking some coffee that was probably way too caffeinated for her own good. 

"Oh, hey Eren! How're you feeling? ...And where's Levi?" I opened my mouth to answer the first question, but scowled at the second one and turned my back on her to dig around for some bread.

"I'm not always around him..." I found the bread and pulled it out before going in search of a knife to cut I with.

"Oh, Eren, don't try to lie. If you're not doing something for me, you follow Levi around like a dog." I felt my cheeks grow warm and spun around to face Hanji, only to see that she was directly behind me and had a demonic smile plastered across her face.

"D-do not!" Hanji narrowed her eyes a bit before her smile grew wider, and I swallowed, anticipating the evils ahead.

"Awww, poor Eren. That was probably a bit of a sore spot. You follow him like a dog, do you want to be his dog?" She wiggled her eyebrows at the last part, and I felt my face grow more red.

"Hanji! Why... What the hell makes you say this stuff?" I turned back to finish cutting off a piece of the bread for myself, trying hard to bury my embarrassment. "Go bug someone else..."

"Well, I had been planning on pestering Levi, but for once you guys didn't come as a pair, so..." I groaned in frustration, but nothing could've prepared me for what she said next. "Oh! Is he in bed? Did you guys, you know, do the do? Is that why he's in bed now, unable to walk?"

At that moment, three things happened at once. The first thing was that I yelped and felt my entire face turn bright red, and the second was that the knife slipped and cut a large gash through my hand, causing me to scream a second time. The third, unfortunately, was that Corporal Levi chose that precise moment to walk in. He stood in the doorway, mouth slightly open as if about to speak, staring at the scene in front of him for a moment before leaping into action.

"What the fuck did you do? Jesus Christ, if that doesn't start healing right this second-" which it did, thankfully, "I'm going to have a serious conversation with whatever god or devil that controls when your Titan healing powers work." He had made his way over to my side as he spoke, and he took my hand in his to hold it up in the light. He frowned a it, apparently unsatisfied with the pace at which it was healing.

"Oh there you are Levi! We were just talking about where you were hiding away from us, weren't we Eren?" I chocked on air (totally possible, I promise), wondering if I could look any more embarrassed as the Corporal currently holding onto my hand raised an eyebrow at me.

"N-nothing. Nothing. Hanji was just wondering where you were, that's all. Nothing else." I saw a spark of amusement in Corporal Levi's eyes, and I sighed with relief that he didn't press me for more. 

At this point, the gash had completely healed and the last spits of steam had evaporated, and said corporal ran his thumb over the new skin before letting my hand go. I turned slightly so that we weren't directly facing each other, bringing my hand close to my body. We stood there in awkward silence for a moment before Hanji tackled us both, squishing us together and squealing. I flailed uselessly before I was suddenly free, and I looked down at the squad leader on the floor clutching her side.

"Oowwwww.... Leeeviiiii....." She rolled on the floor a second more before popping up, completely unharmed. I caught movement on my side and watched as Corporal Levi rolled his eyes, smiling slightly at the sight. I watched the two of them for a bit longer before turning back around to find that my blood had evaporated from the knife.

"Hey, Hanji... There's no blood..." Both the Corporal and Hanji came to look over my shoulders, but Hanji quickly withdrew to freak out.

"Wow... I wonder if... No... Well, maybe that could... Oh! ...nahh.... Oh, I wonder if you could do blood donations! And then would that person have Titan powers? Or could we just not collect the blood in the first place without it evaporating?" I tried to tune her out and turn back to finally finish cutting the bread, but this time was stopped by Corporal Levi.

"Oi, brat, I don't care if there's no blood there or not, youre cleaning that. Right now." I groaned out a protest about the nickname, but trudged off to find someplace to wash the knife. 

Unfortunately for me, the only water in the place had to be accessed through one of a the few working wells scattered around the castle. There were actually quite a few, but most of them were dry, like the one we used when I tried to turn into a Titan. Since then we had come to the conclusion that I needed a purpose along with the self harm to shift, but we hadn't tried it again.

Normally, I would just put the knife somewhere where the next person in charge of dishes could wash it, but with the look the Corporal was giving me I didn't think that that was going to work. He actually went so far as to follow me out, though he didn't say much. As I was washing it (quite thoroughly, Corporal Levi made sure of that), I felt the Corporal's eyes wander from the job I was doing to the back of my head and my neck. The burning sensation his stare left behind caused a shiver to travel up my back, and I had to shake my head slightly to try to return my focus to what I was doing. I stood, very clean and sparkly knife in one hand, and turned around to look at the Corporal.

"Oi, brat, what're you looking at?" I felt my face flush, unaware that I had been staring at him so intently until he brought my attention to it.

"I'm not a brat." The Corporal rolled his eyes at me, and I scowled. I was planning on turning and forgetting what I had been about to say, but the expectant look that the Corporal wore made me think better of it. "I just... I never got to say thanks. For what you said to me the other night in the dungeon about knowing I would've made it to your squad. It meant a lot. So, thank you."

I looked down, uncertain if what I had said was alright. I had been wondering what I should say to him about it, or if I should say anything at all, for the past few days. I watched as a pair of boots appeared in my vision and I glanced upwards, surprised that the Corporal had moved closer to me. He seemed to be debating how to respond, but I enjoyed the moment to examine his expression. His face had softened since I had protested being called a brat, and the small ghost of a smile seemed to be hovering at his lips. I clenched my hands at the urge to reach out and feel his lips, to taste them, and I forced my gaze back to the ground.

"Mm. Truths are one of the only pure things left in this world..." I watched the boots in my line of vision hesitate for a moment more before I felt the Corporal reach upwards and place a hesitant finger under my chin and nudge my head up. "So keep your head up. How else are you supposed to find them?"

My fists clenched tighter, nails digging into skin, and I hoped I wouldn't shift with the purpose of trying to hold myself back. Despite my colored cheeks, I felt a smile stretch across my face, and I felt truly content for the first time in... a very long time. I searched the Corporal's face for any clue to what he was thinking of, but there was nothing but the soft happiness I had seen earlier. He seemed to be hesitating again, but before he could do anything we were interrupted by a yell a few yards off.

"Now kiss!" We both straightened, and I realized that the Corporal had kept his finger under my chin through it all when I suddenly felt the loss of a comforting coolness as Corporal Levi put his hands by his sides stiffly. We turned towards the source of the yell, and I felt anger add to the extreme redness of my cheeks as I saw Hanji leaning out of a tree. I whipped my head to the side, trying to find something to look at that wasn't the Squad Leader or Corporal.

"Oi, Shitty Glasses, what the hell are you doing in a tree? And what the fuck did you say?" All at once the color drained from my face as I both heard and felt the rage radiating from the Corporal.

"A-ah! No reason at all, sir, and I didn't say anything! Nothing at all! Nope!" I turned my head to look at Hanji, somehow not surprised to find that the color had drained from her face as well.

"Oh, really? Because I was under the impression that you had followed us out here, spied on us, and then ordered me to exchange germs with this shitty brat of a subordinate. I must have heard wrong." Despite the slight terror I felt from hearing the deadly tone of the Corporal's voice, I flinched at the way he shot down the very idea of kissing me, and I took a tentative step away from him as I felt my heart sink.

"Yes! That- that must be it! You heard wrong! I didn't say anything, sir!" I looked back at Hanji, feeling a bit of pity for her and the absolute terror she must've been feeling.

I risked a glance at the Corporal, catching him in mid-turn so I was unable to see his face. He started to stalk away, and through all the hurt and embarrassment and annoyance I was feeling in the situation I felt a bubble of laughter rise up as I suddenly was hit by how much the Corporal acted like a cat. I raised a hand to muffle my giggles as I pictured a long black tail swishing with annoyance, but it was to late. In my imagination, one of his ears twitched at the sound, and he spun around to scowl at me, face red with what was probably anger.

"Tch. What are you laughing at?" Now his ears were bent back with annoyance, which caused me to laugh harder. The more I tried to let go of the vision the harder I laughed, a release for all the tension I had felt lately. I collapsed backwards onto the ground, and I heard Hanji jump down from her perch to come see what was wrong.

"Eren? Are you alright?" I giggled at the concern in her voice and half sat up to look at Coporal Levi again; now I saw two small fangs poking out over his lips and I was sent back down to the ground again. I gasped for breath, trying to calm my hysterics to answer Hanji, but I just couldn't stop laughing.

"It's-hah- it's the Corporal! Hahaha! He's like-haha-like a-hah-cat!" As soon as I said it I melted back into my laughter, clutching my sides as I gave up trying to calm down. Hanji looked at the Corporal for a moment before she broke into a grin and giggles of her own.

"Oh my god! He is! I can totally picture ears and a tail and oh! He's so annoyed!" She tumbled back with me onto the grass, and I wondered what Corporal Levi was thinking as he watched us writhe on the ground in laughter over the thought of him as a cat.

"And-haha- and fangs!" Hanji laughed louder at my addition, and I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment as I felt tears form at the corners of my eyes at my laughing fit.

"Oi, what're you little shits talking about?" But the anger from his voice had nearly vanished, leaving just a bit of annoyance and even possibly even a bit of amusement, so when his figure appeared above me I grinned wildly at him as I continued to laugh.

I was starting to come down from my laughter high, and I could tell Hanji was too, but I still felt emboldened enough to mess with the Corporal just a bit. I narrowed my eyes at him before bolting up and grabbing his hands. I then collapsed back downwards, flipping the Corporal over me so that he landed on his back in a way that probably caused all the breath to be knocked out of him. 

"What the fuck brat!" I giggled softly, looking up at the clouds. There was no real anger in the Corporal's voice, and I wondered what it was about the fit of laughter Hanji and I experienced that had caused him to calm down so much.

"Not a brat," I managed to say between giggles, "but I thought you should join us. Hanji and I were already on the ground, and I thought that it wouldn't be fair if we left you out if the fun."

"Fun? I'm going to be filthy because of your stupid idea of fairness." I grinned even wider, laughter almost completely gone now.

"Sure. When was the last time you did this? Training's good and all, but you can't have work without play. Look, that cloud there looks like a rabbit!" Hanji shifted so that our three heads were touching, branching out in a screwed up Titan-killing flower.

"That one looks like a Titan!" Hanji chimed in enthusiastically, and I really wondered when or even if any of the members of the Survey Corps ever relaxed enough to have a bit of fun. Hanji and I continued with no input from Corporal Levi, but it was enough for me that he stayed. And when we finally did get up and I found the knife I had originally come out here to wash and we were heading inside, I glanced over at the Corporal, and in place of the ghost of a smile or a half smile or a smirk I was rewarded with a real smile. The sight was enough to make my whole body tingle with happiness and yearning, and I hummed softly to myself the happiest song I could think of as I returned to my daily activities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yupppp there's some happy fluff for you guys, wanted to end it with that for today because I won't be able to update for at least a week and a half- sorry.


	10. Even the Strongest Hurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back from my trip! So here's all the chapters I wrote while on the road~~

Levi's POV

It was truly becoming unbearable, this stupid crush. Every time I looked at my tea or smelled the aroma of pine I would feel a wave of raw desire flood through me; now I couldn't even look at the clouds without being reminded of the brat. I would fall asleep trying to imagine what it would feel like to curl up into his warmth every night, and I found myself giving even the most flimsy of excuses for Yeager to stay by my side.

And today Humanity's Strongest felt jealousy.

When I went down to unlock his cell door this morning, he was already awake, sitting on the edge if the bed. When he saw me he stood and saluted me, but there was obviously something bugging him. I opened the door to his cell and waited for him to come out before asking what was on his mind, and to my surprise he seemed both eager and hesitant to tell me.

"Well, sir, tomorrow's the disbanding of the 104th..." I raised an eyebrow, searching the Caribbean jewels he saw the world through for the reason he was so apprehensive. "...and the two most important people to me will be joining one of the legions, so..."

"So you want to see them?" I felt a small pinch in my heart when he said that the two most important people to him were in his trainee group, but I dismissed it. There was no reason for him to see me as anything more than his commanding officer, and I had to accept that.

"Could I? Please? I miss them so much, and I just want to see them this once in case I never get the chance again. I don't know what they plan on doing now..." There was that pinch again, an unknown feeling for me so it went nameless.

"You don't think they'll join the Survey Corps?" I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall, Yeager still standing before me looking terrified that I would refuse him the right to go.

"Well, I think Mikasa will just because she wanted to follow me here in the first place, but Armin would really be best suited somewhere inside the walls where his brains could be put to good use. And then of the other people I became close to during my years in the Trainee Corps..." I flinched. And then I winced at the fact that I had made a visible sign that what he said bugged me, but I guess there was no hiding it.

Mikasa? A girls' name? Someone who was that important, someone who he was almost positive would follow him into the most dangerous parts of the world and join the Survey Corps just to be with him... And the way his eyes lit up as he talked about her, simply spoke her name, did they do that when he mentioned the male? All these thoughts raced through my mind and the small pinch in my heart multiplied into a pull so strong it hurt, and I was hit by the name of what I was feeling: jealousy.

What a riot! Hanji would have a field day if she found out that the shitty brat had me jealous over someone I didn't even know. I felt an sudden urge to say no, he couldn't go. To tell him to stay by me. But then I remembered the happiness in his eyes when he spoke of these people, and in my heart I looked past the reason he was happy to the simple fact that he was happy, and the decision was made.

"I won't be able to go." Goddamn it what the hell was with that tone? I sounded disappointed, or god forbid, hurt.

"Sir?" I closed my eyes at the single syllable, the single syllable packed so tightly with hope. I would have to reassess how far I went to bring this kid joy, but for now I knew I had already given in.

"To the disbanding. Hanji and Erwin will be going, though, so you can go with them." The smile Yeager wore brightened my whole being, and I knew in an instant that I had made the right choice. I hesitated, though, before adding: "Just so you know, brat, even if your friends join the Survey Corps and come back here with you, there's absolute no guarantee that I'll want any of them in my squad. And I don't want them distracting you from your duties. Do you understand?"

He didn't even protest my nickname. His smile widened and his eyes grew so bright they were practically glowing, and then I wasn't looking at his face anymore. He tackled me, squeezing me against him. I felt my entire face go red, but after my initial stiffening my body instinctively melted into his. I inhaled the familiar scent of trees and general nature, glad to finally know what his warmth felt like pressed up against mine. I was reminded of our height distance when he bent his head to whisper in my ear, his breath tickling my skin and making me shiver.

"Thank you." I raised my arms, unsure whether he expected me to return the hug or not. I wanted to, I wanted to so badly, but instead I lowered my hands to gently pry his arms from around me. He immediately let go and took a few steps back, obviously embarrassed. I smirked at the flustered look on his face, but inwardly I knew I probably looked similar.

"I-I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking, and I just... I was so happy that I..." He seemed to grow more red with every word he spoke, and my smirk started to shift into something a bit closer to a grin.

"It's fine. I'll take you up to breakfast, and I'll talk to Hanji about taking you." I turned and started up the stairs, acutely aware of the bouncing presence beside me, overjoyed yet still struggling with embarrassment.

Much to Hanj's happiness, I had taken to eating out with everyone else for breakfast instead of eating in my room. I sat in the corner of the mess hall, with Hanji and Erwin across from me and Yeager beside me.

The first day he had sat next to me, he had hesitated before sitting, as if unsure it was okay to sit with his commanding officers, but I had yanked down on his hand and forced him to sit. I remember Erd and Mike, the people he had been sitting with for breakfast before I started eating with everybody, making a comment about deserting them for the Corporal. And Erwin had given me a pointed look as Hanji had squealed when I had the brat had join us, but since then there hadn't been anything said about it.

Now Yeager immediately headed for our table when we entered the room, knowing I would get his breakfast too. Hanji was in the kitchen when I went back there, and she giggled to herself when she saw me preparing two meals like I did every morning now. I sighed at her, and she giggled some more before waggling her eyebrows.

"You know, you really should've kissed him the other day when I told you guys to. You were so close!" I scowled, trying to ignore her as I came back inside after fetching water to boil for our oatmeal. "And you really shouldn't have gotten so angry. You should've seen the look on Eren's face, poor thing. Did you know he made no move to create distance between the two of you until after you had so violently shot down kissing him? And he looked so hurt..."

"I'm sure you were imagining it." I actually felt a spike in my heart beat when I heard what the stupid four eyes had to say, but I pushed it down. "Though, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm glad you let your fucking loud mouth go that day. If you hadn't said something... I probably would've kissed him..." I felt my cheeks burn with shame and embarrassment, and I saw Hanji throw her hands up in the air with exasperation.

"Levi! Why didn't you? If you were going to even before I told you to, there's no reason you should still be single right now." I scowled, taking the pot of now boiling water and pouring some of it into the two bowls I had filled with the oat mixture before.

"If I had kissed him, I would be both single and rejected right now." Hanji made another exasperated sound, but I cut in before she could. "Come on, Shitty Glasses." I led her to our table, setting down a bowl of oatmeal before myself and the stupid brat plaguing my almost every thought.

"Did you find any of that brown sugar again?" I felt my lips twitch upwards in a smile at the eagerness in his voice, and I nodded at him before rolling my eyes as he let out a victory cry and dug in. I turned back to my own meal, but didn't begin eating yet.

"Oi, Four-eyes. Could you and Erwin take Yeager to the disbanding of the 104th?" Hanji froze with her spoon midair, looking at me quizzically.

"Why?" I glanced over to the kid next to me, wishing I didn't have to explain.

"He asked to go to see some people important to him." Hanji grinned, and I knew I had failed at keeping my voice level and not letting any bitterness seep through.

"Ahh... And you just couldn't say no to him, could you~" I scowled, glancing back over at the brat who was currently both my number one annoyance and wish. He had paused at Hanji's words for a moment, and now continued to eat with a bit of pink coloring his cheeks. "Well I'm happy to take him, by I don't know where Erwin is right now. Who're you going to be looking for at the disbanding, Eren?"

"Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert." I picked at my food moodily as I heard the happiness in his voice, bringing to light that the female didn't share the brat's last name so there went my last hope that they were family. Hanji caught my unhappiness with the situation and pat my hand reassuringly. Or at least what was supposed to be reassuringly.

"Don't look so rejected, Levi. Eren's allowed friends." Said brat looked over at me and grinned slightly before winking at me.

"She's right, Corporal. But don't worry. I already promised not to allow my friends to distract me from what I normally do. Oh, I do have one question though. Will you continue to train with me now that technically I've completed the training time? I know I'm taking up your time..."

"Tch, Shitty brat. If I disliked training with you that much I would've dumped it on this over active chimp in the beginning."

"Hey!" Yeager and I glanced over at said over active chimp, the brat I was talking to muffling a quite giggle. I smirked slightly as well, but more so at the way Yeager was giggling than anything.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter to me about the training. Do you feel incompetent enough that you want to continue?" I looked back down at my food as I asked, trying desperately to hide how badly I wanted him to say he wanted to continue spending the time with me.

"A-ah, well... I was actually hoping we could continue... I mean, you're so amazing that... I mean it's just that I could still learn a lot from Humanity's Strongest, you know? But then you went and called me a brat..." I rolled my eyes, trying to hide my happiness that he wanted to continue the training sessions with me.

"Yeager, then." The brat beside me gave me a content look before nodding, and I hummed softly to myself as I turned back to my breakfast.

"Levi? Are you humming?" Well, there was Erwin. I immediately shut up, but I didn't miss Yeager's muffled laughter and shot him a glare.

"No. I'm going back to my room. Hanji, tell Erwin about the disbanding. And brat, bring me whatever papers need to be signed for you to leave my sight with my tea later." I got up to wash my bowl after I heard the standard 'not a brat' retort and then did head up to my room, definitely not humming again.

And even if I was, it definitely wasn't the tune I had heard Yeager hum the other day.


	11. Jealousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you read this chapter, I just wanna clear some stuff up real quick. Okay, so, in my mind not just Levi's squad is at the castle thing. Hanji's squad is there because Hanji is the Survey Corps' scientist so she needs to be there for Eren. Erwin and whoever's in his squad are there because I felt like it, and all the trainees are going there because both the highest commanding officers of the Survey Corps are there. If you have any questions, go ahead and ask them.

Eren's POV

Commander Erwin had agreed to take me without hesitation, so when I brought the Corporal tea later I did indeed have papers for him to sign. I made my way up to his room quickly and knocked on the door, hoping I could look at him without melting over the fact that he hadn't murdered me when I hugged him. It was honestly the dumbest thing I had ever done in my life, but the world didn't explode so obviously things weren't as bad as my mind makes then out to be.

"If you're the shitty brat with my tea, go ahead and come in." I sighed, refusing to enter.

"But then I can't come in!" I could practically hear the Corporal roll his eyes, but I was set on not coming in until he had acknowledged me by name. "I'm not a brat, and I'd like to think that I'm not all that shitty. Though, I do have your tea!"

"Yeager get your ass in my room now." I did so, grinning triumphantly, and placed his tea on his desk along with the paperwork.

"See? Look at how easy it was to get your tea- all you had to do was recognize that I have a name." Corporal Levi scowled at me, but I could see that his eyes were crisp and unclouded by anger or annoyance, so I knew he wasn't really mad at me.

He took up the papers I had placed beside his tea and rifled through them before opening a drawer in his desk and withdrawing an inkwell and a quill, and I found myself leaning on his desk to watch him filling out the sheets of paper. He glanced up at me when I first put my weight onto his desk, but said nothing even when I leaned forward slightly to see better. I looked around his room as I waited for him to finish, happy with the opportunity to look at the Corporal's quarters with more scrutiny than I usually go to. His room was much like others I had cleaned, with a bed and a desk, but the bed and desk were nicer, and there was a carpet on the floor. On one wall was a closed door, which I assumed was his own bathroom, and I took a moment to wonder at the niceties afforded to Humanity's Strongest before returning my attention to the Corporal.

"You're even shorter when you're sitting..." The words came out without my consent, but I wasn't about to take them back now. Corporal Levi paused in what he was doing to glare up at me, and I grinned sheepishly.

"Everyone's shorter when they're sitting, shit for brains." I shrugged, tearing my attention from the way I had to look down on him to just looking at him. As he looked back down to finish reading one of the pages, a strand of hair fell in his eyes, but before I could give in to the urge to brush it away he huffed it out of his face. I raised a hand to cover my smile, somehow surprised at how cute the Corporal could be.

"So... Do you always have this much paperwork to do? I mean, that's a lot of stuff to sign and fill out just for you to hand over supervision of me for a few days..." Corporal Levi grunted in some sort of form of agreement before looking up at me and leaning back with the last page he had to go through and read.

"Tell me about it. Usually Erwin dumps a ton of shit on me like this, but I have to actually go through and read it all instead of just signing it away like you'd think I could. Otherwise I could be signing something saying that I was okay with some dick from the MP coming down here and lopping your head off." I grimaced, watching the Corporal read finish reading through the page before something occurred to me.

"So... You wouldn't be okay with that? Me dying?" Corporal Levi paused mid signature, eyes widening slightly before lowering his head so that his hair was in his face and I was unable to see his expression.

"Tch. I thought we went over this before- who would make my tea if you died?"

"Mm." I took the completed papers from the Corporal and started to head out the door, but paused with my hand on the door handle. "Umm... I guess I'll see you in a few days..." I glanced back over my shoulder at the Corporal, but he was still sitting were I had left him. His eyes flickered for a moment, and he frowned slightly, but otherwise there was no emotion evident on his face.

"Take care of yourself, Yeager." I smiled at him, feeling blush rise to my cheeks, then turned back around and left his room.

~~~  
Levi's POV

The first day, I was constantly turning around to tell the nonexistent brat that should've been following me around something, only to have to turn around and frown at the expectation for the Titan shifter to be there. The second day I made very little contact with anyone, avoiding people and taking all three meals in my room. I was doing it mostly out of annoyance that Yeager wasn't around anymore, partly out of annoyance that I disliked that fact so much. It was only three days after all... But as I fell asleep the second night I could see the brat and some faceless yet pretty girl holding hands, hugging, kissing.

By the final day I had become incredibly agitated, snapping at anyone who made contact with me and moping around in my room waiting. I was glad that Hanji wasn't around to torment me about how much sway the brat had over my mood, but not having Erwin or Hanji almost made it worse. I glanced repetitively at the clock I was blessed to have in my room, waiting for 5:00 and everyone to return with the new recruits. I found myself not only counting down the hours but also playing with thoughts of how to greet Yeager.

There was no need to. Sure, everyone returned on time, and when they did the Titan shifter had caught my eye and nodded in my direction. But when Hanji and Erwin sat down at our table, the brat I had grown stupidly fond of wasn't with them. I frowned, searching through the mass of people, and found him eating with a group of new recruits.

He was smiling and laughing, a sound I had only been blessed with once at the expense of being compared to a cat and laying on the grass (it had been worth it), but with these people it came so freely. There were no reservations in his smile, and everything about him seemed to brighten anytime he turned on either side of him. On one side, a blond bowl cut boy, very petit and quiet. I assumed he was the Arlert guy.

And then there was the girl. She sat close to Yeager, occasionally pulling at the red scarf around her neck or examining some part of the brat next to her. The girl held the most conversations with the kid causing me all this anxiety, and you could tell just by looking that they were extremely close.

So the fourth day I was just as pouty and lonely as I had been before. I didn't even bother going down for breakfast or lunch, but couldn't wait any longer by dinner. When I went down to the mess hall, Hanji and Erwin were already there, and I tried without success to sneak past them to get my meal.

"There you are Levi! I haven't seen you all day! We heard from Gunther that you had holed yourself up in your room these past three days, but I can't see any reason you should be pouting now that Eren's back." I scowled, looking down at the ground.

"I'm not pouting. Yeager's got his other friends. That Ackerman girl." I felt my chest squeeze inwards at my heart, and I recognized the terrifying feeling of jealousy.

"Aww~ Look at that Erwin, Levi's totally jealous that Eren's choosing to spend his time with his friends over with him!" Erwin chuckled, and I felt heat rise to my cheeks, but I made no move to argue against it.

"Shitty Glasses. I changed my mind. I'm eating back in my room." I pushed past the two of them and dealt myself a bowl of soup before turning back to the now steadily filling room to try to make it to my room.

Halfway through, though, whispers began to ripple through the crowd that Humanity's Strongest was in the room, and I felt people's eyes find me in the now quiet room. Well, the room that had been quiet.

"Ah! Corporal!" All heads turned to Yeager, who was weaving his way through the small crowd to me. When he reached me he stopped and saluted, but I waved him away.

"What do you want, brat?" I could feel all the eyes in the room clawing at my walls, but I didn't have to fake the annoyance and anger in my voice. I was mad that be had chosen his friends and the girl over me, but I was hurt, too.

"I'm not a brat!" Murmurs went through the crowd about how he was disregarding rank to argue with me, and for the first time I sent a glare around the room.

"If any of you shits are even half as rude as Yeager is, you'll be punished immediately." The murmurs stopped without dying down first, and it was dead silent in the mess hall again. I turned back to the reason I was so frustrated, ready to make up some excuse and leave.

"Umm, sorry for not coming by earlier. I was busy with Armin and Mikasa and Sasha and Connie and-"

"I get it," I said, rolling my eyes, "glad so many of your buddies joined us." Yeager flushed, but I was still in just as bad as a mood as I had been at the beginning of the conversation.

"Uhh...ya... Anyway, just wanted you to know that I won't be around as often since I'll be helping these guys out, but I'll still show up for training." He smiled at me, then, and as much as I tried to hold onto all of my bitter feelings I felt some of them slip away and my expression soften. "So don't worry, 'cuz I promised not to let then distract me from my duties and stuff, and I'll still be seeing you a decent bit..." Now the brat was bright red, and he refused to look me in the eyes. I smirked at him, and reached up to ruffle his hair.

"I know. Have fun with the rest of these brats." I turned and left then, mood effectively bettered. The second my back was to the brat, murmurs began to run through the group gathered. I heard one mention how lucky Yeager was to be 'friends with the Corporal', and the phrase made me sick to my stomach.

When I reached my room, I set down the tray with my meal on it on my desk before collapsing on my bed. I rolled over onto my back after letting out a groan, rubbing at my temples and trying to dispel the impending feeling of doom. Friends. Of course.

Under normal circumstances, I would be pissed that anyone even tried to call them self my friend, but with Yeager it just made me feel rejected. And now that he had the girl with him, he wouldn't be needing his friends as much, especially the friends that were old and cranky and had hurt them. He had actually gone up to me to tell me he wouldn't be seeing me as much, and now that his smile wasn't there to lift my spirits I felt the full weight if that come crashing down.

When he had been away, I had come to realize how much I depended on the brat to be there for me. Without knowing it, Yeager had walked straight through every wall I had put up around my heart and latched himself onto it. The thought of him would usually cure a sour mood, but the thought of a future without him made me want to curl up and tear at the heart he had invaded.

Now I moved myself so that I could crawl under my blankets before curling up into a ball and squeezing my eyes shut, willing the brat away from my heart. I imagined ripping the wretched, beating thing from my body, shredding it with claws of ice. My feelings would truly die, and I would never feel depression or jealousy or loneliness ever again. But... I could never feel joy either.

I couldn't feel the impatient flutter in my chest whenever the brat smiled at me or the grateful happiness I felt when he looked past my title and saw me as a person. I couldn't feel desire, intense and burning and possibly the only thing that had made me feel guilt. Guilt for desiring the shitty brat to be mine, to hold me close, to press his lips against mine, to say "I love you too"...

So I lay there and kept my heart alive and beating, a steady throb that was louder than staggering breaths I took as I fought to bring back the happiness I felt when Yeager smiled at me. Smiled for me. I fell asleep like that, and when I awoke the next morning to a knock at my door I heard my heart thump in answer to the voice accompanying the noisy banging.

"Corporal? Are you in there? When Hanji came down to get me, I was a bit worried about you..." I smiled sleepily at his voice, wondering if the shitty brat could read minds. Because if he could, he would be sent a million unspoken wishes for him to open the door and come in, to climb in bed with me and hold my head to his chest.

I closed my eyes again, trying to mentally ask the stupid brat to comfort me, to tell me he would stay by my side as I fell asleep again. My night had been plagued with frequent moments when I sat up and looked for Yeager, having had some dream variation of being friends with him while he wore a red scarf. Now all I wanted was reassurance that I wasn't just a friend, and somewhere beneath my half asleep desire I heard a small voice tell me that that would never happen. And so instead of calling him to please come to me, I replied with a curt 'enter', hoping in my deadened state I had managed to sound annoyed.

"So you are in here! What're yo-" I smirked when the brat let out a squeak at the sight of me tucked into a little ball under my covers, my tired mind telling me it was a sign he liked me. He looked away immediately, but I didn't miss the quick glances in my direction as his expression continued to redden.

"I didn't want to get up." I curled up tighter, hoping to resemble a rock. Rocks don't have hearts that fluttered at cute kids, and they never have to get out of bed.

"I-I can see that. But I was worried, and I wanted to know if you'd be at breakfast-"

"What about your other friends?" I didn't mean to sound so hurt and sour, but when I saw Yeager's expression change into one of confusion I realized that shutting up was probably better while I was still half asleep.

"...well... We just... If you don't want to that's okay, but I had kinda hoped I could still eat breakfast with you, Hanji, and the Commander. I'll be eating my other meals with the 104th most likely, but it was kinda nice having breakfast made for me every morning..." As I watched from my bed, the Titan shifter fidgeted, growing red and seemingly regretting coming into my room before sending me a sheepish grin at the last part of what he had to say. I frowned, slightly more awake now and unhappy with the fact that Yeager was all the way across the room.

"Come here," I said, reaching out a hand and beckoning with a finger. The brat did so cautiously, pausing every foot or two to make sure I still wanted him closer. I yawned, and I watched a reddened brat stifle a yawn of his own. When he got close enough, I grabbed at his wrist and yanked him down as I scooted over to make room for him, forcing him into the bed with me. There was still the layer of blankets separating us, but the logic from my sluggish mind told me that even this was too far.

"A-ah! Corporal! Umm... What was that for?" I thought for a moment before shrugging, enjoying the sight of how flustered the shitty brat was as a pleasant wake up call. He made no move to get off my bed, and as I became slightly more awake and aware of the situation I had put us in a thought occurred to me.

"Oi, Eren. What's that cot like in your dungeon?" It took me a full five seconds of looking at the surprised brat in front of me that I had called him by his first name, and as I felt heat rise to my cheeks I made a mental note to ban myself from inviting him into my quarters after I had just woken up.

"Oh. Well, uh, it's not as nice as other things, but it beats sleeping on the cold floor..." I frowned at him but decided to drop the subject before I did something really stupid like inviting him to sleep with me.

"Mm. Ya, I'll come for breakfast. Just wait here for a minute more..." I felt my eyes droop again, protesting my attempts to fully wake up.

"Oh-okay. You seem a but more tired than you usually do, did you sleep alright?" I scowled, trying to convey to him that I didn't want to talk about it with him.

"Okay..." I heard him shift slightly, and then bolt upright at the sight of something. "Corporal! You didn't eat any of your dinner! Well, now you have to come down for breakfast!" I groaned, not particularly hungry. I had really agreed to come down with the brat just to spend the time with him, but if he was going to force me to eat I could afford to skip breakfast.

So I let myself drift off into a dreamless sleep, surrounded by warmth and contentedness. When I would wake up later, I would recount it as the best I had ever slept, though I had only been dead to the world for a few hours.

~~~  
Hanji's POV

Okay, it was annoying enough having to get Eren myself, though I was pleased with how Levi had stopped locking him up all together. But now, halfway through breakfast and he still hadn't joined us I felt my impatience growing. I figured Eren had gone off to eat with the new recruits, but Levi had no excuse.

So after I was done with my meal, I excused myself and made the trek up the stairs and to Levi's room. To my surprise the door was slightly ajar, so I peaked through the crack and nearly died of the adorable scene I witnessed. I had sent Eren in here to wake Levi up, but not only had he obviously failed, he had joined him in his world of dreams.

Levi was curled up under the blankets in the way he did whenever he was annoyed with the world, and Eren lay on top of the blankets next to him. There was only little space between the two, and I couldn't tell who had moved closer to who, but Levi had a hand wrapped around Eren's wrist where it lay in between the two of them.

I squealed quietly to myself before backing out of the room and closing the door carefully, now perfectly happy that Levi didn't come down for breakfast.


	12. Moving On

Erwin's POV

Every time Levi and Eren were in the same room, Levi's whole personality would change to allow gentler interactions. He would spit out insults with no fire in his eyes, and the carefully constructed deadpan expression I knew so well faltered. Levi looked at Eren differently then he had ever looked at anyone, and and while the lingering part of me that still was hurt by his rejection years ago felt jealous, the most of me was happy he had found someone that could make his heart skip a beat with a single smile.

There was no way to stop the two of them from eventually finding each other after blindly stumbling along for so long; the way they stayed oblivious to each others' feelings while so obviously wishing for one another was painful. I understood Hanji's attempts to push one of them over the edge, as there was no way they would be rejected and the pace at which things were moving had become hard to take for both of us. I found myself grinning when I heard from Hanji that the two of them were asleep in Levi's bed, as well as every time their relationship made any progress at all.

But then, there was the faint bitterness. I would grin, yes, but I would also taste bile rise up my throat. I had been in love with Levi with so many years now... It had hurt when he had rejected me, a slap across the face and the way my heart was shattered. It never fully put itself together, not when Levi began his relationship with Petra. How could it?

All I could think was why? Why is he with a female when he told me he was gay? Why isn't he with someone that isn't me? All I could say was what? What do you mean you love her? And later, what do you mean you think it's only love felt for a sister? After all that, what do you expect me to do about it? So many questions, hungry serpents that lashed out with forked tongues at my heart and those of any who tried to touch me.

I remember feeling hope when Petra died. One of the only people Levi cared about died, and I remember having to fake my tears. After all, that meant the path was clear for me. The confusing relationship with the sister-like figure was gone forever, and he would want someone to comfort him. But instead he shut me and Hanji out further, as if afraid that if we died too he wouldn't be able to take it.

I wanted to yell at him, ask him how the fuck he thought the rest of us felt when someone we cared about was in danger, but I stayed quiet. I had been rejected, twice now, and there was no place for me in his life except as a friend. So I stayed one of his only friends as he rebuilt himself after Petra's death, waiting for a chance to wrap my arms around him and let him collapse there to be comforted. It need happened, but I continued to hope. Day after day after day, I hoped. But hope turns bitter after awhile, you know. It rots and festers and then you feel bitter and worse than you did before.

When I took him down into the courtroom dungeon, I was sour from my unrequited feelings, but that did nothing to stop Levi from admiring the cutie laid before him. Not like I didn't agree, Eren was very pleasing to the eyes, but that only hastened the bitter tease from my mouth. Time went by and it was clear Levi couldn't be swept away by looks alone, though every day his gaze lingered a second longer on the Titan shifter.

I never said a word other than the casual jest about the physical attraction Levi felt for Eren, but I saw and I felt the growing fondness Levi felt for Eren that he had for no one else. And even more obvious were the younger's feelings, the crush that sealed the deal and officially made it impossible for Levi to be mine. Because every day as Levi's eyes lingered on the boy staring right back at him, I saw and I felt the growing love they had for each other. Oh, they would never admit it, but that didn't make it any less true.

So I gave up. After years of waiting in the background, I gave up. I got to know Eren, spent time with Levi as a friend and nothing else, and realized that even I wanted the two of them to hurry the fuck up and get together. So now, as I walked out of my room into the hallway leading up to the main shared area, I saw the perfect opportunity to make my own progress in helping push them together.

The new recruits had been here for about a week now, and every single one of them feared Levi like everyone else did. There were sometimes whispers of jealousy that Eren was on Levi's good side, jokes about whether Levi even had a good side, and I began to realize that the noisy recruits could be perfect weapons.

I walked into the room, eyes immediately finding Levi out of habit. He stood by a window, oblivious to all around him in favor of watching Hanji and Eren in the courtyard below. There were a few other people in the room, most of them former members of the 104th, and I glanced to them before raising my voice slightly and giving them my clue.

"Levi, there you are. Yo- oh, what's this? Has Eren Yeager grown more interesting than your cleaning or working or anything else you could be doing right now?" Levi spun to face me, and as he did so he dropped the broom he had been leaning his weight onto, drawing looks from everyone who hadn't already glanced over.

"N-no! Dick head, I was just watching to see that Hanji didn't hurt Yeager." I saw slow smiles begin to spread across the few spectators at the slight flush on the normally stoic Corporal's face, and I knew I had achieved my goal.

"You mean you're making sure Eren doesn't get hurt?" Levi scowled, glancing around the room and flicking me off. I heard a low chuckle come from someone behind me, and I smirked as Levi's scowl deepened and he took a last glance out the window before returning to his own chores.

That was all it took. By dinner most of the Survey Corps members staying at the castle had heard rumors that maybe Eren was on Levi's good side not because of what he had done by because of who he was. Most people seemed to think the idea that the strict Corporal, that Humanity's Strongest, having a crush was perfect, especially since it was obvious to everyone how Eren felt towards Levi. And of course what made it all the more wonderful to squeal over was that whenever Levi heard a rumor he would look away and try to deny it, failing miserably at lying while he blushed softly.

I may taste bile sometimes at the thought of someone else holding on so tightly to Levi's heart, but I did feel the joy that any friend should when they've found someone like that who feels the same way. And I may not be quite as creative when it comes to schemes to push my friends together as Hanji, but I figured that there had to be a least one other person out there in the Survey Corps who was, so I felt content that I had played my part in the story of a prince and princess who were to dense to realize the others' feelings without help. So I smiled when the rumor that Humanity's Strongest had a crush on Humanity's Last Hope made its way through my men, finally feeling as if I had moved on.


	13. Cuddles Don't Mean Anything

Levi's POV

After the next few days after that shit head Erwin spread the rumor that I liked Yeager, I got real tired of all the shit people were trying to pull. Somehow, Hanji and Erwin had pulled everyone into a huge competition of who could get us together first. For me, that meant being 'accidentally' shoved in the brat's face every time I was trying to have a conversation with him. I would turn around, glare, then pull myself off the brat before my cheeks became too heated and my heart beat too loud.

Though... I guess it was a bit of a stretch to say I disliked it. I was a bit annoyed to come into contact with other people, but I was delighted by the sudden change of events. It wasn't because I was pushed on top of the brat all the time, either. It was because I saw.

I was oblivious the first couple times, but the third time some idiot tried to get me to kiss Yeager I looked up before I looked at said idiot. I stared, frozen in shock, as I witnessed the brat's face grow incredibly red and shoot his own glare in the direction of whoever had bumped into me. I felt hope bubble up inside me and I decided to take a chance, smiling slightly and unaware that we now had an audience of a few people watching in anticipation.

I raised up a hand and lightly brushed a finger over his cheek, smirking when he jumped slightly and looked at me with shock. I could see it in his eyes: happiness at the contact, embarrassment at the situation, hope for me to do something more. But I withdrew, finally stepping back to create some space between us. I heard someone curse quietly in the background, and I couldn't help but chuckle softly to myself. I turned, still smiling slightly, and made my way outside to finish my chores for the day.

I barely got through anything, though, when I was tackled to the ground by Hanji.

"Leeeevviiiiiii! What was that? You were so close to kissing him, again, yet you chose to back up and laugh at him! And I know you saw it this time, the look Eren had. So why?" I shook my head, sighing softly.

"I saw it. That's why I stepped back." I leaned against the wall before sliding down to the ground and raising my arms to cover my head.

"Levi, are you kiddi-"

"Shut up, Shitty Glasses. Ya, I saw the affection there. Looking back I wonder how I missed it before." I ran a hand through my hair, thinking back to every moment Yeager had gotten fidgety in my presence.

"Tell me about it! It's obvious to everyone else, that's why when they found out that you returned his feelings they've all been trying to push you over the edge and confess to him. We all know Eren doesn't have the guts to do it himself." Another sigh.

"I know. That's why I stepped back. It's not that he doesn't have the guts, it's that he's afraid. Part of the reason I... Feel this way about him is that I've always thought he wasn't afraid of me, that he didn't see me as his superior or as Humanity's Strongest but just as another person he happened to bump into during his life. I don't care what he's afraid of, rejection, acceptation... Me..." Hanji remained silent for once, coming over to me and sitting beside me. She took my hand, which I hadn't realized was trembling, and simply gazed straight ahead. "Hanji... I don't want there to be anything between us until he's not afraid. Of anything."

"Oh, Levi..." There was no loudness to her voice, a sudden quiet that represented an understanding and sympathy I wasn't quite ready for. "My poor Levi... How are you going to wait that long? He may never not feel afraid- it's hard not to fear rejection." I shook my head, not sure of how to answer.

"That's the other reason I'm not doing anything. No matter how sure I am of Yeager's feelings, I'm afraid of being rejected, too..." We sat in silence, then, the silence of true friends I wasn't sure I still had. When I was ready to move on in my day, I stood and turned to Hanji who had done the same. "Thanks. For understanding all that and staying with me for some time." She wrapped me in a tight hug without warning, sudden but still silent and comforting.

"Of course. Do you want me to tell everyone to back off?" I shook my head to her surprise, and her grip around me loosened as she leaned back and looked a me with a frown.

"I said I don't want to have anything with him while he's afraid. I didn't say I didn't like being pushed into him. And the one thing the new recruit did... The one who's always eating." Hanji nodded, smiling ruefully.

"Sasha. I couldn't believe that she went so far, it made me feel so proud!" I rolled my eyes, remembering the event.

She had come pounding on my door at about one in the morning, yelling that Yeager wasn't waking up. I had bolted out of bed, not wondering about why she had been down in the dungeon in the first place, and hurried there myself. When I got there was when it first occurred to me that I didn't have a shirt on and that my hair was probably an absolute mess, but I ignored those facts and followed the food obsessed recruit to Yeager's bedside.

I poked at him once, then twice, before shaking him with no response. I turned to the girl watching me with wild eyes, silently pleading her to tell me what was wrong.

"He'll be woken by true love's kiss." I narrowed my eyes at her in disbelief, wondering who the hell believed in those shitty fairy tales. I looked back at the brat who still slumbered on and snapped my fingers in his ears, hoping for a response. Nothing. With a last glance over my shoulder towards the burnet who was watching with anticipation, I began to lean down slightly over the brat before the fluttering in my stomach could convince me to leave him asleep.

Halfway towards his lips, which had been parted oh so invitingly, I smelled something vile and recoiled. I looked at the recruit behind me with confusion before going in search of whatever smelled so wretched. I had eventually found it, a harmless sleep enducing concoction the girl had snatched from the kitchen on one of her regular raids. She sure had looked disappointed when I discovered her ruse, but I didn't have to set eyes on her once after that since I sent her to sleep in the stables for a week.

"That's right, that was her name. What she did, I will admit it would've provided a pretty good excuse to..." When I trailed off, eyes averted and cheeks slightly red, I heard Hanji give a soft laugh before squeezing me tight once more and stepping back.

"Okay. I won't say anything to the others, but just know that the stuff some of them have planned to win their battle is a bit over the top." I felt myself grin, already calculating for what laid ahead.

"That's alright. I think I can handle a bit of trouble. Now come on Shitty Glasses, I have paperwork to do." We headed inside, and I felt some of the pain of waiting for the brat I had my eye on slip away as he approached me.

"Corporal! I was looking for you!" I threw a disinterested look his way, trying to pretend I hadn't just confessed to the only other person in the room that I knew of the brat's feelings for me.

"What is it, brat? I have work to do." He looked down at his feet, fidgeting and a bit red.

"I'm not a brat, but I wanted to let you know that I was done with all my duties for the day." I thought a moment, then smirked, deciding that if I wasn't going to have Yeager as my own yet I may as well play with him a bit.

"No." I could see the annoyance begin to bubble up in Yeager, but I ignored it. "You aren't. Follow me, I have one last thing for you to do."

I turned and walked towards the stairwell on my right. Up the stairs, around the corner, pause. I looked back at the brat following me and frowned, then looked back into the room we had just left. It was a simple common room with a fireplace, a couch, and a small table, but for this it would work perfectly.

"Oi, Yeager. Wait there on the couch." I watched the look of confusion spread across his face for a moment before continuing to my destination and fetching the pile of papers I had yet to do along with one of my favorite quills- it had the ink already inside it, and it only needed to be refilled every so often. I then made my way back to the common room and plopped myself down on the couch next to the brat who currently occupied, watching him stiffen and redden. Cute.

I turned slightly and leaned back into Yeager, closing my eyes at the comforting warmth. He seemed to sit up even straighter the second I made contact with him, but I shifted a bit and cuddled into the stupid brat just like I imagined doing so many times. I almost forgot about the papers I had to do, quite content with the way Yeager's body felt up against mine. But I picked up the expedition plans and deals and everything else and began to shift through it all, pretending that this wasn't a situation I hadn't wished for so often in the past.

The brat eventually did relax a bit, but not before a few people had walked through the room and sent either snickers or squeals our way. When he did, though, I felt the arm I was half leaning on move slowly and hesitantly remove itself from behind me to wrap its way around my waist. I paused in what I was doing, feeling my face go red, then smiled at whatever the hell this paper was and curled up into Yeager's side before continuing with my work.

I knew I would have to endure teasing later from multiple people, but for now, I was just happy that I could learn how to play around without giving in to the urge to just tell the boy I was currently cuddling with how I felt about him and his goddamned beautiful eyes.


	14. Poisons of the Heart

Eren's POV

*Slender hands traced down my chest, my waist, pausing at my legs. They suddenly jumped up and danced downward to knead at the sensitive skin so close to what I wanted, causing me to shiver. Then they disappeared altogether, only to reappear on my cheeks, angling my face down to meet lips that were soft and sweet and mine. I groaned into the kiss, trying to grind my ass down into the lap I was sitting in onto the obvious bulge there.

"Someone's eager..." The words tickled my ear, a husky breath that had me craving more. I felt myself being picked up and moved, laid on the bed we had been sitting on. My harness had already been removed, the buckles undone. Now my pants were being tugged down along with my boxers, and I moaned as the cold air reached my erection. The man above me licked his lips, steely eyes predatory. He leaned down, placing a small kiss on the head of my throbbing cock, and I whined with impatience.

"Co-corporal... Please..." I tugged at his hair, pure desire taking over my actions.

He caught my eyes before I gasped at the sensation of his tongue running up my length, over and over, lapping at my pre-cum and swirling around the head. Not breaking eye contact, he enveloped my entire dick without warning and-god!-he had no gag reflex. I jerked my hips upwards, hitting the back of the throat, not sure which one of us moaned.

He hollowed his cheeks, sucking and bobbing his head and swirling his tongue and bringing me right to the edge of ecstasy without even trying. I called his name, trying to warn him that I couldn't last if he continued, and he pulled back with a loud pop sound. He raised two fingers to his lips before giving them the same treatment he had my cock, and I felt myself practically drown in the want. He removed his fingers from the warmth and wetness that I could still feel wrapped around my length and swirled them around my entrance, teasing me up until the last moment.*

"Oi, brat." *I frowned. That didn't belong. I pretended not to have heard, feeling the Corporal's fingers begin to work their way into me as I gasped and moaned and whined out how much I wanted it.*

"Oi, brat!" *The expression on the Corporal's face began to shift into one of annoyance, and I could feel myself slipping from the pleasure I was experiencing.*

"Yeager!" I opened my eyes lazily to see the Corporal standing by my cot, face slightly flushed as he sent glances from my face to my nether regions. I scrunched up my face as I wondered what was happening, where'd the Corporal that was pleasuring me go and- oh. I sat up suddenly, eyes on the obvious tent in my sheets.

"I-I....umm..." I refused to meet the Corporal's eyes, wondering if I had been making any sounds outside of my dream.

"It's time to get your ass out of bed. And... I'm going to head up to breakfast before you. You should probably take care of that." He gestured towards my erection and I groaned before yanking the thin pillow from beneath my head to cover my face. I heard the Corporal hesitate before leaving the dungeon, and I sighed through the pillow.

~~~

When I joined the Coporal, Commander, and Hanji for breakfast, they were halfway through eating their meals and Corporal Levi had made me toast. I nodded at them, not trusting my voice, and the Corporal cleared his throat.

"I trust you cleaned everything up?" I nodded numbly, both of us looking in opposite directions. After breakfast I tried my best to avoid the Corporal, feeling lucky that it wasn't a day scheduled for training.

I made it all the way to lunch, where my friends shooed me away to go sit with Corporal Levi. So I did, silently, until the older man rolled his eyes and sighed during a break in the conversation he was having with Hanji.

"Tch, brat. It's fine, really. Forget it ever happened. Or not." I gulped at he last part, feeling my face go bright red as the Corporal shot me a look that seemed to say he'd rather I not forget. "But I'm definitely not going to kill you for it."

"I-I'm not a brat!" The Corporal smirked at me, and conversation seemed to return to normal as I slowly relaxed. Hanji and Erwin wanted to plan an expedition that took advantage of my powers, but the Corporal and I argued that I couldn't yet control said powers enough for the pros to outweigh the cons.

"He'll end up hurting himself, and then we're all screwed because we bet our entire mission on a shitty brat." I stepped on his foot under the table, and he elbowed me in my ribs. I let out a yelp, and he smirked, knowing he had won.

"I just don't think we know enough about what I can do to even come up with a worthwhile mission." I was still rubbing at my ribs, but it didn't hurt much anymore. "Like, what would you even have me doing? Moving more rocks?" The conversation dropped off after that, and we finished our meals in relative silence to the loud clamor of the mess hall. I looked back to where my friends where sitting, but other than Mikasa they all seemed to be happy with me sitting with the Corporal.

"Oi, brat."

"I'm not answering to that." I looked back at a scowling Corporal, sending him a scowl of my own.

"You just did. When was the last time you shifted? We should have you do it more often so that we can be ensured that it still works, and you might, I don't know, go through some sort of evolution or some shit. And- what's that?" The Corporal's who demeanor shifted in an instant, and I saw him look back to Hanji for help and back at my eyes. I frowned, about to ask what was wrong, but suddenly Hanji was in my face and examining my eyes as well.

"What the..." She forced my mouth open and smelled my breath, then jerked back suddenly and shot up. "Sasha! Get over here!" She did so, bread piece hanging out of her mouth and a potato in one hand.

"Mm?" Hanji picked up the tray with the remains of my lunch on it and handed it to her, looking anxious. "Free food! Great! Oh, and there's still some- ohhh no I'm not eating that." The whole room was silent. Sasha had just refused food, and now the tray she was holding was being pushed back into Hanji's hands. She tried trotting back to her seat, but Commander Erwin grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to sit down where the Corporal had been a moment before.

Now he was standing by me, holding my face in his hands, asking me if I felt funny. I thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind. My stomach was fluttery and my face was red and my heart beat fast as the Corporal checked my pulse, but I knew the cause of those. Well, maybe I felt a bit dizzy. I opened my mouth to say just that, but nothing came out before I fell forwards onto the Corporal and my vision went black.

~~~  
Levi's POV

The second I caught the brat, I was hit by an intense feeling of déjà vu from when I caught him in mid air, and I stood up quickly with Yeager carried bridal style in my arms yet again.

"Everybody stand back!" The room had descended into chaos when the Titan shifter had passed out, but I easily commanded the attention of the room. "I need to get him upstairs where there are actual beds, so Erwin stay here and manage these shits while I take Hanji and the food girl with me." Hanji and said food girl nodded, and I turned and headed upstairs.

There was no argument over whether he would sleep in my bed this time, we all headed to my room without saying anything. I laid him down on top of the blankets and felt his burning forehead with the back of my hand before turning to Hanji and telling her to get a wet cloth. Then I turned to the recruit, unaware that I had grabbed at Yeager's hand until I followed her line of sight and saw that I had entertained our fingers. I scowled, but didn't remove my hand from his.

"Kid, what the hell was it that you didn't want to eat?" She took a bite of the potato she had been holding before answering, and I tried to stay patient.

"The green beans. They were laced with the poison our village used sometimes in hunting missions for larger animals; I could smell it. I heard about the thing with the gas, and if he survived that he should be fine. Normal humans still shouldn't eat that though, unless they have a death wish." I squeezed Yeager's hand, relief starting to flood through me before the torrent of anger came.

"Who the hell has all this access to poisons?" I looked back at the Titan shifter's face, which was slowly regaining its lost color, and sighed. "Oi. The gas- was that from your village, too?" I leaned over Yeager and opened one eyelid to see that the milky quality his eyes had taken on earlier was starting to fade, but it appeared as though he was still burning up.

"Nawww, we never used gas. And the poison in his food wasn't necessarily from our village. There were about five other places that used the same stuff we did." I brushed some hair from the boy on my bed's face, sighing once again.

"There were no differences?" The girl who I now had my back to shook her head as Hanji reentered the room with a wet cloth she placed on Yeager's forehead after squealing to herself when she saw how I had entertained our fingers.

"Not in the ingredients. Though... A couple villages had different climates that affected the process of making it. We usually had to keep ours dry, but in other places they preferred to keep it moist. That would change the affects slightly. Things like dizziness, how long it took for him to die-" I spun to face her and she put her hands up, finishing her sentence. "Or in this case black out. Can I go back to lunch now?" I collapsed back down onto the bed next to the boy I had spent so much time thinking about, glad he was going to be okay.

"Whatever. But when Yeager wakes up, we'll call you back to help unless any of those other little shits down there are from the same village as you." She bounded out of the room, whatever else I had to say lost to her as she refocused on food.

Minutes ticked by, each second an eternity as I sat and waited for Yeager to open his eyes. Hanji left me to take care of him, saying she knew I would keep my eye on him. It had taken days for him to recover from the gas, and I couldn't bear to go through the waiting again. It wasn't until I was starting to drift off next to the brat, fitting my head on the small space of the pillow he wasn't taking up to rest my own head, did he finally start to shift. I bolted upright and watched as his eyes opened slowly as I breathed out a sigh of relief. I ran a hand through his hair, combing my fingers through the silly strands as he woke up. As he became more aware of the situation he started to grow red, and I removed the hand from his hair.

"How're you feeling?" He let out a grunt and rolled over away from me, clearly still exhausted. "Mm. Well, at least you're awake. I'm going to go make myself some tea, Hanji will be up here in a moment to do her stupid therapy thing. The MP have started requesting copies of the reports from your sessions, so you have to do one today even though you're a bit out of it. Sorry." With a last glance at the recovering brat I left the room, slightly put out that I had to make my own tea for once.

I decided to drink the tea down in the kitchen, so that I could give the kid some space, but once I was finished I couldn't wait to see how he was doing any longer. I made my way up the stairs and down the halls towards my room, but paused outside the doorway. It was the way the two of them were talking that made me halt, so I stood and listened against the door.

"You should've seen Levi! He wouldn't let go of your hand the whole time!" I felt my cheeks begin to warm, but I kept listening.

"I'm sure it was just out of friendly concern. Shouldn't you be asking me about symptoms or something instead of drilling me over this?"

"But you and Levi are so cute~ The whole squad thinks so, too." I rolled my eyes, tired of the conversation already. I wasn't learning anything new from it, so I opened the door as the brat had been replying to Shitty Glasses.

"-sure he doesn't like me romantically!" He froze when he heard the door open, turning his head slowly and caught sight of me standing by the door. He turned bright red, and I rolled my eyes as he tried to get out of bed and run away.

"Oi, brat. Where the hell are you going?" Hanji looked between the two of us before merrily skipping out of the room, and I growled slightly under my breath.

"I-I'm sorry. For the insubordination." And then he pushed past me and followed Hanji out of my room, leaving me ticked off and very tired of the brat feeling like his feelings weren't returned. I turned to face the direction Yeager had run in, and I made a mental note that his name was Eren.


	15. Thanks For Not Hating Me

Eren's POV

I ran from the room, pushing aside the Corporal without looking at him. How could I be so stupid as to let anything slip like that when I was in the Corporal's room? He could've walked in at any moment, and he had done just that. Now, surely, he would look at me with the same disgust and contempt as everybody else, and I would once again be dropped down into the storm without an umbrella to help keep dry. I ran to my dungeon, grabbing the key that Corporal Levi left by the always open cell door and locking myself in from the inside. I shoved the key in my pocket, then rolled myself up in the thin sheet I had been provided on top of the wooden cot.

"Eren!" I shuddered at the way my name sounded on his lips, but tried to ignore the rattling at my cell door. "Eren, open this cell up immediately! Eren, please!" I felt a sick amusement creep up in my stomach as I listened to the Corporal beg for me to come out of the cell I was supposed to be in anyway.

"Three." I said it under my breath, not wanting the man trying to get me to listen to know that there was no way I couldn't listen to him.

"Eren, please come out. I'm tired of this shit, tired of you acting scared of me! Why are you hiding? Are you afraid of rejection? Scared that I will be disgusted by my subordinate?" I felt guilt begin to creep its way up my throat, but I ignored it. "Eren, do I seem disgusted? I knew you liked me, I knew and I never said anything. Why would I be disgusted now?"

"Five." I spoke a bit louder, my emotion affecting the volume of my voice, but still not loud enough for the Corporal to hear.

"Are you afraid of me? Are you afraid that I'll hurt you? I won't Eren, I promise. I promise on everything I have left in my life that I will never hurt you, so please don't be afraid..." I could feel hot tears slide down my face, terrified at Corporal Levi knowing while also wanting to never be afraid again so long as he kept talking.

"Six." I didn't bother hiding my voice that time, and I heard the Corporal pause and wonder at what the number meant.

"Eren?"

"Seven." I felt my heart squeeze tighter and tighter, wanting to believe that there was a way this could end happily.

"Eren, what are you counting?" I sighed shakily, tears slowing.

"Eight. It's the number you've said it." I felt my cheeks grow red even in this situation, and I rolled over so that I could see the Corporal's face through the bars he still gripped onto.

"Said what?" I smiled sadly at the Corporal, fear slowly dissipating in the Corporal's presence leaving the hesitance and sadness.

"My name. it's the number of times you called me 'Eren' just now. For once I'm not 'shitty brat', or 'Yeager', and my name is finally on the lips of one of the only people I care about." I watched as the Corporal's eyes grew wide, and he smiled slightly.

"Eren, Eren Eren Eren Eren. Eren, what are you afraid of?" I could see the look in the Corporal's eyes, wild and pleading all at once, and I knew I would give in to him.

"I don't know..." I squeezed my eyes shut against the pleading look the Corporal was giving me, still unable to believe he wouldn't hate me after all was said and done. How could things stay the same? The fragile friendship I had built with Corporal Levi really had been built on every time I stood up to him or talked to him when no one else would, and now he stood on the other side of a cage and asked me what I was afraid of.

"Eren, please let me in... At least do that, please." I looked at the Corporal for a moment more, some sick part of me savoring the image of him looking so desperate, before I stood up and slowly walked over to the cell door. I unlocked it and stepped back so that I wasn't in the way of the door, but before I could get very far something slammed into me. I felt my eyes widen and already red cheeks grow brighter as I looked down at the Corporal, who was clinging to me and pressing his forehead to my chest, looking relieved.

"S-sir! With all due respect, knowing how I feel towards you... Do you really think this is... Ummm... Appropriate?" He hugged me tighter, not meeting my eyes.

"Shitty brat. I'm going to do what I want." I hesitantly placed my arms around the older man's body, only making light contact in case he rejected my actions. He nuzzled his face into my neck, and I took that as a sign I could tighten my hold. I did so, trembling, and the Corporal leaned back to look at me, annoyed.

"I'm not... Just, can you please tell me what you were so afraid of? I waited, I waited because I hated that you were scared, and even though I can't see fear in the back of your eyes anymore, I need to know. What were you afraid of?" I let my arms slip from around the Corporal and took a step back, feeling a part of my heart chip off at the rejected look that flickered across the Corporal's face as he too let me go and stepped back.

"I was afraid you'd hate me... You don't hate me, right? I don't think I could take it if you hated me, if I had to start over with no hope of ever making it here again..." I trailed off, looking at the floor.

"Idiot. Of course I don't hate you." The Corporal's voice had gotten small and soft, and I could tell he was finally relaxing. He reached for my hand, and I let him grab it to wrap in his cool fingers. "Oi, brat. Lean down a bit."

"I'm not a brat..." I grumbled out, still refusing to look at the Corporal. I changed that, though, when I felt him grab at my collar. I stared at him with wide eyes as he pulled me down a bit, muttering something about being 'so fucking tall'.

And then his lips were on mine. I let out a startled yelp into the lips I had only dream of feeling, and the shorter man took advantage of my open mouth to insert his tongue into my mouth. His tongue was in my mouth. The Corporal's tongue was in my mouth, warm and soft and exploring my mouth as I still stood stiffly and processed the situation. The Corporal kissed me... And with that last thought I wrapped on arm around his waist and pulled him closer while I laced the other hand through the soft black strands of his hair, closing my eyes and letting my tongue dance with his. I felt him release my shirt to place both of his arms around my neck, giggling softly into the kiss as I felt the Corporal go up onto his tip toes. He pulled back then, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand and glaring at me as he returned his feet to their positions flat on the ground.

"Now do you believe me?" He leaned his head back onto my chest, looking happier than I had ever seen him. "I don't hate you. I never could. I was just waiting for your fear to go away and then..." He looked up to place a soft kiss on the side of my chin, and I shuddered at the sensation and held him tighter. The Corporal let out a soft sound of complete happiness, and I felt myself practically glowing as I giggled into his hair when he returned his head to my chest.

"See? You really are like a cat..." It was a funny thing to remember at a time like this, but it was practically all I could think of as I felt the Corporal's body pressed against mine as if in search of warmth and especially when he made his sound of contentedness. To my surprise, I felt the Corporal chuckle lightly.

"Meow." I felt myself break out into a stupid grin as the Corporal said it, the reality that I had the person I had dreamt about for weeks and weeks and weeks on end cuddling into my embrace and meowing like a cat finally hitting me in the best way possible.

"So... You knew? About how I felt about you?" The corporal nodded, leaning back slightly so as to look at me.

"Mmhmm. And even if I hadn't ever noticed the way you looked at me, I would have been let on by your hard-on the other morning." I felt myself go red with embarrassment once more, not sure how to respond.

"W-what did I say in my sleep?" The Corporal's eyes narrowed into slits as he smirked, and I felt myself swallow nervously.

"Well, you moaned my name a couple times before I could wake you. Must've been a pretty good dream, huh?" I looked away, feeling my cheeks burn with shame as I nodded. The Corporal let out another low chuckle, obviously happy with my response.

"I-if you knew and all, why didn't you say anything?" I asked the question with my eyes still averted, but before the Corporal answered I felt one of his hands slide down from around my neck to nudge at my chin and get my attention back to his face before he returned it to its spot.

"I already told you that it was because I didn't want you to be afraid. That was one of the reasons I fell for you, you know. The way you treated me just as human as everyone else. It was a nice change. And before I knew you liked me... I was scared you'd reject me. That you'd be revolted by a cranky old man suddenly confessing his feelings to you while you still had things like the fate of the world to deal with." I squeezed the corporal tight once more before hesitating and looking back down at the floor.

"U-umm... If I tried to kiss you right now... Would you let me?" I felt my chest squeeze tight in a way I now thought almost pleasant as the Corporal smiled at me, nodding. I leaned down, pausing a centimeter away from his lips in case he changed his mind before taking their soft warmth as mine again. He let me lead the kiss, not taking charge and setting the pace as he did before, so this kiss was softer and closed mouthed, but it was still perfect all the same. When we broke away, we smiled at each other for a moment before the Corporal stepped out of our embrace and grabbed one of my hands and pulled me towards the stairs that led up to the rest of the castle.

"Come on, brat. If we go now we may be able to get some of the last bits of the dinner." I scowled at the nickname, but didn't protest as he led me up the stairs, fingers still interlaced with mine. When we got to the mess hall, there were only a few that were left eating, but those who were on kitchen duty that night were all still there and we were able to get our meals from them. We were going to sit down when one of them caught sight of the way we were holding hands, and the news that 'Corporal Levi and Eren finally got together' made its way around the room quickly and Hanji came bounding up.

"About time, you two!" The Corporal scowled, but I leaned over and pecked him on the cheek and his scowl dissipated as he blushed lightly. I smiled smugly, and the Squad leader who had watched our little display squealed happily. "Aww~ That was adorable! You guys are adorable! And I'm speaking for everybody who saw that, everyone else is to nice to come up and disrupt you guys." I glanced around the room as the man beside me glared at Hanji; sure enough most of the room was whispering and looking over at us with smiles plastered across their faces. I looked down at my lap as I felt my face to red, and the Corporal squeezed my hand under the table.

"Shitty Glasses. That's because most of the people here have the common sense to not wish to be annihilated during dinner." Hanji rolled her eyes, grinning.

"Oh! And we all want to know- what made you guys finally stop skirting around each other and get together? We had a bit of a bet, see..." The Corporal opened his mouth to answer, but I beat him to it.

"Well, in the long run, it was whoever poisoned me... If I hadn't been poisoned, then Corporal never wou-"

"Levi." I looked over at him in surprise, not sure what he meant. "You don't have to use titles. In fact, please don't. It's just Levi." I smiled my thanks at him, and he nodded, looking at his food.

"Then Levi never would've walked in on me talking to you about liking him." I felt my heart skip a beat as I said his name, and when I looked over at him I saw the faint traces of a smile. Hanji left after that, saying that that was okay since no one cared much after getting to witness our short interactions.

We finished our meal in comfortable silence, though I ate a bit slower since I was using my left hand to eat and didn't want to take my right hand from Levi's grip. When we were finished, we got up and left the mess hall, but I felt a tugging at my hand when I tried to turn down the hall that led to the stairs to my dungeon. I turned to look at Levi quizzically, surprised to see an annoyed expression on his face.

"I-I'm sorry... What did I do?" Levi rolled his eyes at me, and I looked down feeling guilty.

"Brat. Don't apologize if you don't even know what you did wrong. And you didn't do anything wrong in the sense that I would be giving out punishments, you were just going the wrong way." I looked at him in confusion, not even bothering with my standard 'not a brat' retort. Levi tugged on my hand and led my down another hallway and up the stairs, then down another hallway and-oh. I felt my face go red when I realized he was leading me to his room to sleep.

I hesitated outside the doorway; even though I had been in there a million times to bring him tea or papers or to fetch him for one thing or another, this felt massively different. But Levi tugged me inside, shutting the door behind me. He let go of my hand to pull off his boots and harness, and I slowly began to do the same. I stopped, however, when Levi pulled off his shirt and buried himself into the blankets of his bed. Part of me was disappointed I hadn't gotten the chance to admire his shirtless form, but most of me was trying to process that he wanted me to get into bed with him while he was like that. Did he want...? I gulped, finishing taking off my harness but hesitating by his bed. Levi scowled at me, making it clear he wanted me in bed now.

"Come on- I won't bite." He seemed to be considering what he had said before he decided to add another word. "Yet." I shuddered, wondering when yet was. I gave Levi another uncertain look before crawling under the blankets with him, happy to sink down into the plush material and bury myself in the warmth of the blankets.

Before I could even completely relax, though, Levi was pulling me from the edge of the bed towards him. I stiffened at first, but when it became clear that he really only wanted to cuddle and nothing else I scooted over to him the rest of the way and wrapped an arm around him before logic could tell me that I should wait to see what he wanted. Levi shifted himself so that he could place a kiss on the tip of my nose before he buried his head in the crook of my neck, clutching at my shirt with both hands. I absently traced small circles on the bare skin of Levi's back, hoping he couldn't hear how fast my heart was beating.

"I didn't know you could be so cuddly..." Levi stiffened slightly and tried to back up out of my arms, but I held him tight. "...it's cute..." I smiled down at Levi, watching a light pink tint his cheeks. Slowly, Levi reattached himself to me, this time mumbling something into my neck. I tapped on the back of his head, trying to tell him that I couldn't hear him.

"I said: I'm just happy." I squeezed him tighter at his words, feeling as if I were going to burst from the thought that I could make him so happy.

"I'm happy too. Thank you." Now Levi was placing small kisses on the neck that was exposed, and I shuddered at the pleasant sensation.

"For what?" I ran my fingers through Levi's hair, trying to figure out what it was that I was grateful for.

"I don't know. I guess, thanks for all of it. For not letting me run away, for making me confront what I was afraid of so that you could convince me that there wasn't anything to be afraid of. For kissing me and holding my hand and eating with me and bringing me to your bed and cuddling with me. Thanks for telling me to use your name, Levi, and thank you for smiling at me. Thanks for definitely not hating me." I felt Levi try to bury himself further in the crook of my neck, and I smiled.

"Idiot. If you say stuff like that, I can't look at you." I gently pulled Levi's face to where I could see it and kissed him on the forehead, then the nose, then on the mouth. Before I could pull away, Levi swiped his tongue over my bottom lip before nipping at it, demanding entry. I opened my mouth slightly, engaging in a battle for dominance with our tongues. When it was clear that I wasn't the winner, I pulled back.

"Where the hell did the brat who got flustered at every little thing go? I'm not quite sure how I feel about this overconfident one." I giggled quietly, but my giggles quickly turned into a yawn, and when I closed my mouth I watched with amusement as Levi struggled against yawning himself. He failed, and I got to watch as he opened his mouth in what was probably the smallest, daintiest yawn I had ever witnessed.

"Mm. Tired." I felt my eyelids begin to droop, the euphoria and newness of my situation wearing off and leaving me feeling exhausted.

"Get some sleep, Eren." I smiled at him as I closed my eyes, welcoming sleep as I noted how I could feel each and every one of Levi's breaths.


	16. Morning Escapades

Eren's POV

Bliss. Pure bliss. I had forgotten what it had felt like to sleep in an actual bed, and with Levi's body pressed against mine it was entirely more pleasant. When I woke up, I was greeted by the still sleeping Corporal looking more at peace then I had ever seen him. The creases in his brow were nonexistent, and with his small, pale face he almost looked like a child. My eyes lingered at his parted lips, and I blushed at the memory of taking those lips as mine. I hesitated a moment before giving in to sneaking a kiss before he woke up, unable to resist while remembering how soft and sweet they had been. As I was pulling away, though, Levi shifted slightly and pulled me back down roughly to continue the kiss. It was sloppy, and it tasted of morning breath, but when we broke apart both of us where smiling.

"That," Levi hummed out, eyes still sleepy slits to complete the picture of tired contentedness, "was perhaps the best way I have ever been woken up." I grinned at him, both of us still wrapped in the embrace we had fallen asleep in, and leaned my forehead against his.

"So last night really happened? I'm not dead and dreaming right now?" Levi chuckled, more awake now, and I closed my eyes against the feeling of his chest moving against mine.

"Yes. And now you're mine." I blushed, happy at his words but surprised that he was so blunt about it.

"Then, we're..." I trailed off, unsure what he wanted from me. Or what he was allowed to want, now that I thought about it; he was Humanity's Strongest.

"Boyfriends. And you'd better not decide to chicken out now, not after I waited so long just for this." I blushed harder, and Levi raised a hand to stroke my cheek. "God, how I've wanted to do this. To just lay with you, able to touch and not just look, to be able to steal your warmth. I've wanted this so badly..." I averted my eyes, feeling a smile creep up on me as I tried not to let my face grow more red.

"No, I won't leave." All at once Levi's face lost its dreamlike happiness, his brow furrowing and a small frown adorning his lips once more.

"You promise?" I sought his hand out, interlacing our fingers when I found it.

"I promise." Levi relaxed, and I grinned. To have this much control over the older man...

"Good." Levi said, nodding. We lay there for a few more minutes, both of us perfectly awake but not wanting to leave the warmth and comfort of each others' arms.

Eventually I sat up and stretched, looking back down at my new boyfriend who was frowning at me slightly. He sighed, then sat up himself and got out of bed completely. I felt my eyes widen as my eyes landed on his bare chest, as I had forgotten that he hadn't worn a shirt to bed and hadn't gotten the chance to admire his impressive chest and torso before. Levi noticed me staring at him hungrily and smirked as he stretched, purposely showing off every toned muscle and smooth expanse of skin. I jerked my gaze away quickly, embarrassed at being caught staring.

"It's okay. You're allowed to look." I felt my face burn with embarrassment, and shook my head rapidly as I looked down at the blankets. "Cute little brat."

I shot my head up to protest, but Levi had come around the side of the bed and caught my lips with his own, swallowing my retort. He stood up and turned his back to fetch a clean outfit, leaving me staring blankly at the wall. Levi headed to the door on the opposite side of the room, pausing at the doorway to turn back and look at me, smirking slightly and carrying a predatory and expectant look in his eyes.

"I'm going to take a shower. You're welcome to join." I covered my face with my hands, but Levi had already made his way into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I told myself that I was thinking the situation over as I rubbed at my face with both hands, but I knew I had already made up my mind.

I got out of bed and made my own way to the door that had been left slightly ajar, hesitating before entering. Levi was already in the shower, and the glass panels were too fogged up to see anything more than an silhouette. I stripped and put my clothes, folded, into a corner before slipping into the stall myself. It was fairly large, big enough to fit us both comfortably, and I took advantage of this to create as much space between us as possible as I took in Levi's body. I felt my eyes drawn downwards, and my eyes widened as I laid eyes on his member.

"Y-you're huge! I mean, umm... Fuck." Levi smirked as he finished washing shampoo out of his hair before beckoning for me to come closer. I did so hesitantly, and Levi dragged me under the steaming water. I shuddered under the sudden heat, pleasant but much warmer than what I was used to in the public showers I usually had to use here.

Levi squirted some shampoo into his hands before reaching up to massage it into my scalp. I let out a shuddering breath and closed my eyes at the sensation, feeling completely at bliss. It ended much too soon, Levi bringing me back into the water to wash out the soapy bubbles before placing a kiss on my shoulder and beginning to condition his own hair.

"Say, Eren. What was I doing to you? In your dream the other night?" I felt myself stiffen and blush, the memory of Levi's mouth around my cock causing it to twitch.

"O-oh. Umm, pass?" Levi chuckled, washing out the conditioner before pulling me into the pounding heat of the water and downwards slightly to claim another kiss. I felt his hands trace over my bare skin and moaned into his mouth as his fingers danced lower and one hand squeezed my ass.

"Whatever you dreamt, wouldn't you rather experience it for real?" His breath was low when he pulled away, and I felt a shiver run up my spine before I closed my eyes and gave in.

"Blow job. You were giving me a blow job." I kept my eyes closed as Levi pushed me against a wall of the shower, feeling every bead of water roll down my body, every kiss and nip and suck trailed down my neck and chest and lower and lower and lower. I whimpered when his fingers brushed against my now hard cock, a whisper of a touch that sent me wild with desire.

It was nothing like my dream. My eyes were blown open and I gasped as Levi took my entire length without warning or teasing beforehand, then pulled back almost completely so that he only had my head in his mouth. Again, he deep throated me, this time running his tongue around the bottom of my throbbing member. I groaned loudly, the feeling of how wet and warm he was around me so much better than I had dreamt.

He bobbed up and down, moaning slightly as I tugged at his hair, only breaking rhythm once to swirl his tongue around my head. I made no effort to hold back any sounds of pleasure, knowing but not caring as I moaned out his name over and over. His hands danced everywhere: playing with my balls and massaging the skin on my upper thigh and grabbing my hips to hold me still and to keep me from thrusting into his mouth. My mind was almost blank from the blinding pleasure, all I could do was make unintelligible noises and moan Levi's name and ask for more, don't stop.

"Ngn... Levi... I'm going to-" I was cut off as a scream erupted from the back of my throat and I arched my back against the cool wall of the shower as I bucked my hips forward, causing Levi to gag slightly. He didn't seem at all deterred, though, and I watched through my pleasure-induced haze as he swallowed my cum eagerly before lapping up any drops he had missed on my cock. He looked up at me when he was finished, licking his lips, and I slid down the wall and collapsed next to him.

"So did I do better than your dream version of me?" I closed my eyes, moaning out something close to a yes and nodding. Levi chuckled and got off his knees to stand up and grab the soap and shower head before kneeling by me again to start cleaning me up.

"That...that was amazing. You really don't have a gag reflex, either. Can I assume that there'll be more to come?" I asked as Levi helped me up. He let one hand slip from my grip downwards to run over my ass before slapping it, causing me to yelp.

"Better, if you play your cards right." Levi smirked as I turned bright red, turning off the water and opening the shower door. I shuddered as a wall of cold air hit my naked body, and Levi threw a towel my way. "Dry off, brat. Then just wait here while I get you some clean clothes- I don't care what you do in the meantime."

"Can you please call me by my name? I liked that much better." I pouted as Levi smirked at me before finishing getting dressed and leaving the bathroom to go find some clean clothes for me, leaving me to sit and wait as I fantasized about Levi's body and quietly celebrated that I got to see all of it.

By the time Levi had come back, though, my mind had drifted off to food, so when he gave me a questioning look I licked my lips and asked: "Do you think pancakes would taste different if I ate them as a Titan?"

"What on Earth... Well, sure, I guess..." Levi looked puzzled for a moment, then shook his head and scowled. "Go bug that stupid four-eyes with your shitty questions." He threw me my clothes and I yelped in surprise, earning a smirk from my boyfriend.

"Asshole." I dressed quickly, self conscious to Levi watching me from where he stood by the door. When I was done, I glanced over the clock, wondering just how late the day had gotten. "Damn. We missed breakfast." Levi glanced over a the clock himself, no emotion evident on his face.

"Hmm. So we did. It's actually closer to lunch at this point. Can you hold out until then?" I scowled but nodded, going over to where I had placed my boots and harness the night before. Levi was already in his, and I hurried to follow his lead. "Come on, brat. If you hurry you can get your chores done before lunch."

"I'm not a brat! And can't I get a special pass or something?" Levi shook his head before beckoning me over. I raised an eyebrow before going over to him, not expecting to be jerked down and kissed. I hummed happily into the kiss as Levi ran his fingers through my hair before releasing me, and I grinned.

"Why are you so tall?" Levi said it under his breath, not expecting an answer, but I gave him one anyway.

"I think the question you should be asking is why you're so short." Levi turned quickly and took a swipe in the direction of my head, but I ducked, giggling. I stood back up and leaned over to wrap my arms around Levi, kissing him on the top of his head. "Mmm. I quite like this new situation. Who knew you were so affectionate?" Levi pulled weakly at my arms, but soon relaxed into my embrace.

"Shut up, brat." I scowled and let Levi go, heading over to Levi's bedroom door and opening it, pausing to make sure Levi was following. We were making our way back downstairs, heading to the supply closet on the first floor, when we were stopped by the last person I was thinking of at that moment. I gulped, moving behind Levi to look over his head at my 'mom'.

"Oh! Hey, Mikasa... Whatcha need?" Levi shot me a questioning glance, obviously annoyed that he had to look up to do so. I leaned down, whispering in his ear: "That's the mom you have to get through." Levi looked surprised, and for a moment almost relieved. He turned back to Mikasa, who was glaring at him in the most demonic way she could.

"So can I have him?" I blushed at Levi's blunt words, trying to bury my face in his hair.

"No." I looked up at Mikasa, shooting her a pleading look.

"Pleeeaaaassee! Please Mikasa! He'll be good to me, I promise!" Mikasa glared a me, expression only softening a little.

"Brat. Don't go promising for other people. I do promise to keep good care of him, though. And even I you deny me the right, I probably won't pay attention to you. I'm just asking that you not interfere too much." Mikasa returned her glare to Levi, eyes flickering at his words.

"Then you understand I won't approve?" Levi nodded slightly, sighing.

"Though I'd rather you did. It'd make my life easier. Though technically I have say over your actions, Ackerman, I'm not going to stop you from being protective of Eren." Mikasa fumed, but clenched her fists in an attempt not to egg him on and turned back to me instead.

"We'll talk about this later." I shuddered, dreading the moment.

"That wasn't so bad." I groaned, not believing that Levi could really be so unaffected by my sister. "You know, this whole time I thought that you two were..." I looked at Levi curiously, grinning when he averted his eyes. "I was confused when I remembered she existed after I found out how you felt, to say the least."

"Aww~ Was Levi jealous?" Levi sent me a glare, but didn't deny it, and I took his hand and squeezed it. "She's my sister. Well, the most motherly adoptive sister you could have. I'll tell you about her later." I made started walking in the direction of the supply closet again, but felt a tug on my arm and looked back to see Levi shaking his head.

"There really isn't time for you to do anything now. We'll just head over to the mess hall a bit early, and you can feel blessed that you're getting out of your duties for a day." I whooped a victory cry, pulling Levi along to get our lunches.

When we got there, a few people had begun to trickle in to get their lunches, and we joined them to get ours. I saw Connie with Sasha up ahead, and let go of Levi's hand to run ahead and let them know I wouldn't be sitting with them and the rest of the 104th today.

"Oh that's right, you and Corporal finally got together!" I averted my eyes at Connie's words, and he and Sasha laughed. "It's fine, we'll let the others know. Have you talked to Mikasa yet?"

"Briefly. Levi was with me, so..." I shuddered at the memory, and my friends laughed harder.

"Ooohh, you are so in for it the second she catches you alone. And the Corporal had better watch his back, too!" I scowled at them before waving goodbye and making my way back to Levi.

"And here I thought you had abandoned me in favor of your friends." I grinned at him and shook my head, taking his hand in mine again and relishing the feeling of Levi shifting closer to me.

We got our food soon after and made our way to where Commander Erwin was already sitting. He nodded at us when he saw us, eyes lingering at where our hands where intertwined. I thought I saw bitterness flash in his eyes, but dismissed it when he smiled at us as we sat down.

"There the two lovebirds are! Hanji freaked out when you were both missing during breakfast. Oh, speak of the devil." No sooner had he said it then Levi and I were pulled into a right hug.

"Hellooooo~ So, what were you two up to this morning, hmm?" Hanji giggled and waggled her eyebrows at us as she sat down, and I felt my face grow red as I remembered-ahem-oversleeping.

I opened my mouth to tell Hanji that that's were we had been, but was caught speechless when Levi raised his fork to his mouth with nothing on it. He licked it once before sucking on it, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. I felt my cheeks burn and turned my head quickly, refusing to look at anyone as Hanji cackled. The Commander remained silent through Levi's little display, but Hanji practically exploded. I sighed, then turned back to face then both, picking at my food.

"We overslept." Levi chuckled, and the Commander rolled his eyes, but I pretended that it was a perfect alibi.

"Uh-huh, okay Sweetie. Consider lying to us before your boyfriend spoils it for you next time." I scowled, face still red, and made a mental note to complain to Levi later.


	17. Of Cats and Syrup

Levi's POV

 

Surprisingly, while it seemed as if the whole of the Survey Corps was working together to get Eren and I together, no one really bugged us about it afterwards except Hanji. Well, Ackerman sent me evil glares at every meal, but apparently after she talked with Eren and I she hadn't brought it up again. Arlert had wished us his congratulations, and then after that we were left alone. 

After a brief argument with Erwin I had gotten permission to permanently remove Eren from the dungeon to sleep with me each night. After our first morning together we hadn't done anything beyond kissing, much to my frustration, but I didn't want to push him and end up hurting him so I stayed silent and let him set the pace. Between waking up every morning in the arms of the only person I had ever cared so much for and the frequent kisses and cuddles, I had felt my mood improve bit by bit each day, and found it harder and harder to hold back smiles in the presence of the brat. 

However, I felt a growing buzz in the back of my mind reminding me that I knew very little about Eren, and that he knew even less about me. I constantly found myself being surprised by him, and I was getting very fed up with it. So one afternoon about a week into our relationship, while I was helping train him in hand-to-hand combat, I decided to address the problem while he was taking a break.

"Oi, brat."

"Not a brat."

"What's your favorite color?" He looked startled by the question, unsure of where I was going with this.

"Why?" I scowled at him, making sure he knew I was unhappy he wasn't answering right away, but gave him his answer anyway.

"Because I barely know anything about you. What's you're favorite color?" Eren blinked once, then twice, before he broke out into a grin. He came over to me and tackled me, squeezing me tight. "Tch. Let go, Eren. Oi, Eren! Let go- you're all sweaty!" I felt him laugh at my protest, but he did eventually let go.

"You're adorable. You were probably feeling all insecure about that for days now, huh? And you completely ignored everything you do know about me." I raised an eyebrow, and he sat cross legged in front of me, looking up to meet my eyes. "You know quite a bit."

"Care to elaborate?" Eren's grin widened, and I could see the smug look on his face.

"Well, you know my name. You know I can transform into a Titan, and you know how and what triggers me. You know how to annoy me, that's for sure." I scowled, but Eren kept going. "Judging by how I can never beat you no matter how hard I try, you know how I fight. You know I prefer coffee to tea, and you know how to read all of my expressions better than anyone else. And you know who I love." 

I felt my face start to grow red, but I had to stop myself from jumping to conclusions. He could easily be referring to Ackerman or Arlert, he didn't have to be using the word love romantically. I looked away, trying to process what he said logically. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the last thing he said, and decided to give up.

"But I don't know your favorite color." Eren laughed, closing his eyes and laying back on the grass.

"It's green. Come here." He patted the grass beside him, and I hesitated before joining him. I wasn't a huge fan of laying on the ground, but the last time hadn't really been too bad. "What's yours?"

"My what?" I turned my head to see that Eren was staring off at the sky, probably trying to find shapes in the clouds again. 

"Your favorite color. You got to know mine, it's only fair." I smiled at Eren, who still hadn't turned his head to look at me.

"Whatever the hell you call the color of your eyes." Now Eren turned to look at me, cheeks a faint pink. I turned on my side and moved one of my hands to prop up my head while the other held Eren's face in place as I examined his eyes. I never quite settled on what color they were- one moment they were flaming green while the next they would be a blue clearer than any natural color.

"That's not a color..." Eren mumbled out as he shut his eyes to stop me from looking at them. I drew back my arm, but stayed on my side to look at my boyfriend. 

"What's your favorite food?" He opened one eye halfway, looking at me curiously.

"You really do care about the small things, don't you?" I frowned, not sure what he meant.

"Sometimes it's the small things that end up mattering the most." Eren smiled at my words, and I felt my lips twitch upward at the sight.

"I suppose pancakes then. Oh! And chocolate chip cookies! And caramel! Or maybe those potato crisp things Sasha made, or that cake I had on my ninth birthday..." I chuckled as he trailed off, lost in the world of sweet candies and sugar.

"Fine, fine. What's your least favorite food, then?" I watched with amusement as he scrunched up his nose at the thought, frowning at the mere memory of the offending food.

"Spinach. They're a disgrace to both foods and the color green. And yours? Favorite and least favorite, now." I thought a moment, then answered:

"Tea and syrup." Eren looked puzzled, trying to work something out.

"Well, ignoring the fact that both of those are liquids, which one do you mean for what? Tea can't be your least favorite, you drink it all the time. Which means...Levi! How on Earth do you not like syrup? Syrup is God's gift to us all, a magical substance that can turn anything sweet! It's like, the essence of happiness!" I rolled my eyes, making a mental note to add syrup to the list of Eren's favorite foods.

"It's too sweet. I'm not a huge fan of anything sweet unless it's something like cake. Cookies aren't bad either, but I haven't had either of those two things for years." Eren gave my a pitying look, but then his expression turned quizzical.

"That's weird, I mean your-" He cut himself off abruptly, face turning bright red and effectively drawing all of my attention.

"My what?" Eren shook his head, hands over his mouth. I frowned, then turned too my back and looked up at the sky. "That's too bad. I suppose the only way to get the answer now would be to threaten you, but... Hmm. Oh! How about..."

I sat up, deciding to learn another thing about my boyfriend even before he had in and told me. I gave Eren one last warning look before pouncing on him, straddling him so that he couldn't get away. He yelped, and I smirked before I moved my hands from my sides and holding them up menacingly.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how ticklish are you?" Eren suddenly looked terrified, letting out a squeak as his eyes flew to my hands, fingers apart and poised to tickle at a moment's notice. 

"Umm...three?" I narrowed my eyes at him before giving in to the temptation to test his claim, drawing out the laughter I loved to hear so much. He batted at my hands uselessly, squirming and kicking and trying everything he could think of with his face red with laughter and his chest heaving with the heaving breaths he was taking.

"Care to correct yourself?" 

"O-okay!" He managed to choke out between fits of laughter. "A 9! Or higher! Just- hah- stop!" I stopped, smirking, but didn't get off him.

"So, what were you saying?" I waggled my fingers as I spoke, making it clear that I wouldn't hesitate to continue tickling him if he refused to answer again. 

"O-oh.... Umm..." I watched as his face grew red once more, this time from embarrassment any not from laughing. "Do I hafta?"

"Yes." I frowned at him, wondering what on Earth he didn't want to tell me.

"Okay..." Eren sighed, looking away as he continued his confession. "It's just, you were saying how your not a fan of sweets, yet whenever we kiss you always taste so sweet yourself..." He grew quieter and quieter as he spoke, but I heard just fine. I got off of him, not making any comments as I felt my own face grow red. I glanced back at him after I was laying next to him again; he was refusing to meet my eyes.

"So... Since you like sweets so much... Can I assume that I myself am also one of your favorite foods?" Eren's face grew even more red, and I smirked, though I could feel my own blush.

"Idiot. You're not a food." I hummed happily, not hearing any protests. I leaned on one arm as I bent over my boyfriend to place a kiss on his lips before flopping back down next to him as he sighed. "So? How ticklish are you?"

"A 1. No way you an get back at me like that." Eren scowled, his hope of sending me through the same fits of laughter I did him crushed. "Don't look so put out- I'm glad. That you're so ticklish, I mean. I love the sound of your laugh." I turned my head as I said it so that he couldn't see the faint blush on my cheeks, but I had a feeling he was busy hiding the red on his own cheeks.

"Whatever." As I lay on the grass next to him, staring up at the clouds, I found myself wondering one last thing.

"Cats or dogs?" There was no hesitation in his answer, and from the grin on his face he heard the underlying question.

"Cats, definitely."


	18. Not Heartless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update!   
> ...mostly because this one's short and sucky. Sorry.

Eren's POV

 

It had been almost two weeks since Levi and I started dating, and things felt oddly normal. I mean, it was my first time being in a serious relationship like this and it was with my superior and Humanity's Strongest, but it didn't feel strange. I woke up every morning to his sleeping face, I went to bed every night with his arms wrapped around me, and I never thought about how it was different from how I had been living. I know that if I suddenly went back to living without Levi that I would probably be a mess, seeing as how I depended heavily on him every day to be by my side, and yet I couldn't fathom at how it would actually feel. There was the before and then there was now, and my brain seemed incapable of comparing the two. So, because of this, everything seemed normal. Natural, even. I even started to expect the prying questions from Hanji at meals and the sour looks from Mikasa.

I had forgotten completely about her promise to talk to me alone about my relationship, and thinking now about why I had forgotten I could only come to the conclusion that I was simply never not by Levi's side. So the one morning when I was running an errand for the short Corporal and bumped into Mikasa and Armin, I wasn't expecting to be dragged back to the room where Jean and them slept.

"Do you even realize that you never leave that midget's side?" I stared blankly at Mikasa, confused as to why she was so annoyed. "It's not like I could have this talk with you in front of my commanding officer!"

"You mean about me and Levi? I thought you had dropped this!" Armin was standing off by himself in a corner, watching but making no comments, though he rolled his eyes at my exclamation.

"Of course not! This is serious, Eren! You already know that I don't approve, but do you understand why? Because I'm getting the feeling that you don't, seeing as you continue to go around wearing your heart on your shoulder." It was my turn to roll my eyes, and I groaned.

"What does that even mean? And if you're going to start listing reasons like 'he's short' or 'he's old', then I don't want to hear them." Mikasa stepped closer, anger evident in her eyes.

"It means, dear Eren, that you are easily moved and played through your emotions, which you give away freely! And Corporal Levi is heartless, cruel and cold; you will never be able to draw emotion from that man." Armin shifted uncomfortably in the corner, opening his mouth to protest, but I beat him to it.

"You're wrong! He cares for me just as much as I do for him, and I'm tired of you not being able to see that! Every time you see us, you're glaring at us, and I miss just being your stupid brother who falls asleep while gathering firewood. I miss being tattled on and rewrapping your scarf when the wind threatened to blow it away. Instead, I've barely talked to you in the past two weeks, too weary am I of your disapproval that I don't want to come near you for fear that you'll lock me away! I lo-" I cut myself off abruptly, feeling myself grow red under my sister's judgmental stare. "I care for Levi more than I have anyone else in this sense, romantically, I mean. And the only other people I love as much who aren't dead are standing before me, trying to rip me away from him by planting seeds of hate. Well, I'm tired of it! When you're ready to accept that I'm not alone anymore, come find me and start being a good sister again!" 

I left the room, slamming the door behind me before running down the nearest hallway and stopping at the far wall, sliding down it and dropping my head in my hands, hot tears falling with silent shudders. I was still hunched over like that when Levi found me, at which point he rushed over to wrap his arms around me in an embrace.

"Eren! What happened?" I clung to him, finally letting sound escape my lips as I gasped out apologies through my quieting tears and hic-ups.

"I-I'm sorry, Levi! Mikasa said-hic!-she said that you were heartless, and I got mad, and I-hic!-yelled at her, and now I don't know what to do. I told her that I was-hic!-tired of her glaring at us and not caring that I lo-hic!-that I..." I dissolved back into tears, collapsing my weight onto him and letting him pull me so that I was sitting in his lap. It was a bit awkward because of our height difference, but I ignored it and hunched down to bury my head in the crook of his neck, seeking shelter from all the stupid hardships of the world. All the Titans, the fact that I had been practically useless to humanity, my sister...

"Shh... It's going to be okay, Eren. It's going to be okay." He ran a hand through my hair soothingly while his other arm held me close, whispering small comforts in my ear. My tears slowed once more, and I sniffled as Levi pulled my head back to look up at me. "I think we should go see your sister, alright?" I nodded guiltily, upset with myself for not being able to do so alone.

"You'll come with me, though, right?" Levi stretched upward as he tilted my head down to place a kiss on my forehead, cradling my cheek.

"Of course. Come on." He pushed me off him enough to stand up and help me up, sending a small half smile my way when I refused to let go of his hand. We made the way back to where I had left Mikasa and Armin silently, the quiet broken only when I sniffled or when Levi would whisper assuringly to me that it would be okay.

"Eren? Oh my god, Eren, I thought you left m- ah. Corporal." Mikasa froze on her way towards me, saluting Levi while sending him an icy glare.

"See? That's what I was talking about, Mikasa! Leave him alo-" I was cut off when Levi grabbed my ear and pulled me down, causing Mikasa to make a sound that could only be described as a growl. "Ow! Levi!"

"Stop. We came here so that you could apologize, not start another fight. Now, go make up. I hate seeing you in tears." I pouted, but nodded and let go of Levi's hand to walk over hesitantly to my adoptive sister.

"Umm... Sorry. I didn't mean what I said about you being a bad sister. I know you're just worried for me. But I care a lot for Levi, so it makes me sad that the few people I want to stay close to can't get along..." Mikasa's expression softened immediately, and she rushed to smother me in a hug. 

"I forgive you. And I promise to try and spend more time with you without arguing about your love life." I didn't miss how she avoided saying anything about how she felt about Levi and I, but it was better than nothing. I returned the hug, then stepped back and ran to Levi to pull him over. I grabbed Mikasa's arm as well, holding their arms out towards each other.

"Now, shake, and be friends." Levi and Miaksa did as I told, but shot reluctant glances between each other and me. "Close enough." I brought the two of them into a hug, squeezing them together in a way I knew couldn't be comfortable for either of them. But Levi smiled, and returned the hug, going so far as to place a hesitant hand on Mikasa's back, and I smiled at her shocked expression. I leaned over to Levi to place a kiss on the tip of his nose, earning me a smile as he closed his eyes and hummed happily.

"Told you he had a heart." The words were directed at Mikasa, but I made no effort to hide then from my boyfriend. He promptly shot me a scowl and tried to wriggle away from the hug, and I laughed as I stepped back to let both him and Mikasa go. She seemed surprised by the whole chain of events, and I grinned at her before clapping her on the back. "Well! Look at that! And I thought it impossible for us to have any more bonding moments without causing Wall Sina herself to crumble down." Mikasa smiled back at me, and I decided that all in all, it had been a good day.


	19. I Love You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, sorry I didn't update for awhile. I have no excuse.

Eren's POV

 

I loved Levi. It's been at the back of my mind, always slipping away before I could pinpoint it and address it, never letting me consciously think it. But the other day, when I saw him leaning against a tree and reading, I was hit by how beautiful he was. I had snuck up around him, and to my surprise he had been so engrossed in his book that he didn't detect me until I had pounced on him, sending the book flying and Levi and I tumbling to the ground.

"Eren!" I remember closing my eyes as I giggled, not bothering getting off of my boyfriend. He had been calling me 'brat' less and less lately in favor of my actual name, only switching back to the less than favorable nickname when annoyed.

He had sat up, pushing me off his lap to fetch his book and come back to sit back down next to me. He told me that as punishment for tackling him I had to sit still until he was done reading before he leaned against me and continued his book. I had smiled happily and leaned back against him as well, closing my eyes and humming a happy tune. The quiet, sunny afternoon had soon put me to sleep though, and I fell asleep against Levi.

Now, I'm waking up in our bed, and I can only conclude that Levi carried me all the way here. I smiled as I yawned and stretched before sitting up, catching my reflection in the surprisingly dark glass of the window. I blankly noted that it had gotten late and that I'd probably have a hard time falling back asleep, but my attention was fixed to my hair in my reflection. I raised my hands to lift the flower crown from my head, bringing it where I could examine it. It was threaded from the flowers that had been growing nearby the tree I had caught Levi at, and I felt my entire being glow with happiness. And I realized it.

I loved Levi.

He came in just a few minutes after I had woken, sending me a small half smile when he noticed me playing with the flower crown. He took the crown from my hands to replace it with a tray with dinner on it, and I looked over at the clock to see that I had indeed missed dinner.

"Guess you were really tired." I shrugged before thanking my boyfriend and digging in, not all that surprised when he put the flower crown back atop my head. When I had finished, I set the meal off to the side and watched as Levi paced about the room, organizing this and completing that. 

"Hey, Levi." He stopped what he was doing and set down the papers, giving me his full attention. I felt my face glow red and my tongue grow leaden as the task suddenly became a million times harder, but I managed to keep eye contact as I completed my task. "I love you." 

His eyes widened, whole face growing red instead of the little half blush thing I got if I got anything. He opened his mouth to answer, closed it, opened it again. Eventually he walked over to me and leaned down to kiss me, giving up on speech for the moment. The kiss was sweet, and I savored it as I did all of our kisses, but when he broke away I looked at him apprehensively.

"I love you too." I felt myself break into a wild grin, face growing a bit red as I tugged Levi down for another kiss. This one was more heated, fueled on when Levi sat down on top of me so that he wasn't standing awkwardly off the bed. I felt myself shiver when Levi moved his head down to place small kisses and nips on my neck, but when I felt a hand trail down and play with the waistband of my pants, I froze.

Don't get me wrong, my boyfriend was hot, and ever since our morning in the shower I had been toying with thoughts of going further. One morning when I had woken up after Levi and was showering, I had gone so far as to play with myself back there. The result left me with an aching pain for the next few hours, and that was with Titan powers. Since that morning I had been terrified that doing it with Levi would only bring me pain, and I worried that Levi would blame himself if it did hurt me. More than anything I was scared that it would cause a rift between us, so I never did anything to suggest going further.

When I felt the tugging at my pants, I knew I had reached the end of the time Levi had been so generous to give me, I knew that he was growing impatient. Yet still I found myself pushing him away as gently as I could, getting him off my lap completely. I felt my heart lurch at the rejected look upon Levi's face before he turned from me and got under the covers of his bed, curling up into a ball and laying on the farthest side from me he could.

"Levi..." There was no reaction, and I leaned over, hand outstretched, to bring him closer to me before I stopped and withdrew my arm. I sat for a moment, looking at my reflection and the flower crown and the lump on the bed next to me. I looked away, feeling guilt rise like bile up my throat, but I couldn't find the guts to apologize and let him go further. Instead I lay down, back facing Levi, praying that I would wake up the next morning with him clinging to me like I had grown so used to instead of the distance between us still being there.

 

~~~  
Levi's POV

 

I awoke in the night in a cold sweat, breaking free from a nightmare in which Eren had decided he wasn't all that gay after all and had flown of into the sunset with Ackerman. That was all I could think of as I had fallen asleep that evening, that he only liked my personality or looks or was using me to get out of the dungeon and didn't want all of me. I had felt the smallest glimmer of hope when I felt the bed shift as he reached for me, but he paused before he even touched me and withdrew his hand. It terrified me, the nightmare even more, and after shivering by myself on the edge of the bed I decided that I needed Eren if I were to get back to sleep. 

It was stupid of me to let this become a problem, anyway. I had already decided to wait until he was ready, I had just thought... It was getting hard to pretend I didn't want to finish marking the Titan shifter as mine, to pretend that I didn't have to jerk off in the shower most mornings because I couldn't get release of all my desires through the one causing all the stupid desires. I sighed, then turned over to crawl into Eren's arms. Then bolted up into a sitting position to stare at the empty bed sheets beside me.

He wasn't there. The bed sheet was cold where he should've been sleeping, meaning he left me hours ago. I felt my chest contract as I ran my eyes over the flower crown I had put into his hair, left slightly wilted now on his pillow. I took it up in my hands shakily and stared at it, feeling an icy cold sadness settle over my hope for better dreams tonight before I crushed it and threw it across the room and collapsed into myself. I watched as my vision grew blurry, yet not a single tear fell. 

I took shuddering breaths, trying to steady myself, before sitting back up and grabbing at Eren's pillow and dragging it to me. I curled up around it, embracing his familiar scent and wishing he would just magically transport into my arms and take the place of the pillow. It didn't happen, and to my dismay that meant I had to get up to search for him. There was no way I could fall asleep now, not thinking that he had abandoned me in the night without a word goodbye.

I got out of bed hastily, still clutching Eren's pillow, and began to make my way towards the dungeon. When I got there I paused outside the door, unsure if he even wanted to see me considering he had left my side in the middle of the night. After a moment of pained hesitation, desire and worry won and I pushed open the door to descend down the stairs. I went through the cell door, which was hanging open, and started over to the sorry excuse for a cot Eren used to use as a bed before stopping. He wasn't here, either. 

I felt myself clutch at his pillow tighter, the bubbling worry I had felt suddenly flooding into a panic. I dropped the pillow and turned and ran from the cell, up the stairs, down hallway and through room and door to finally pushing out of the castle altogether to be greeted by a cooler, softer air.

I hated how the world seemed to be continuing on so peacefully, as if Eren hadn't just disappeared. I called out into the night once, then twice, wandering until I saw the tree I had been reading under that day not far ahead. Relief swept through me when I caught sigh of a lump under the branches, and I ran to his side.

"Eren oh my god please don't ever do that to me again you had me so worried I-" As I was talking, I had knelt by the Titan shifter, too happy to properly notice that the air was much warmer around him than it should've been. I had reached for him, clutching at him but quickly drawing back and cutting off what I had been saying when I felt a hot liquid pooling on his stomach. 

I immediately connected the dots that the extra warmth was the steam from blood evaporating and wound healing, scooping him up and heading back inside where I could have light. I was furious that this scene continued to repeat itself: someone tries to kill Eren, they fail, as he heals I carry him around and wait for a sign he's not dead. I was tired of the now cliche story stuck on repeat, but that didn't stop the torrent of emotions Humanity's Strongest supposedly didn't feel. Fear, pain, anger. 

I brought him back up to my room (our room?), sighing as I had to make the trip up the stairs with Eren in my arms for the second time in the past 24 hours. He was already stirring, steam still pouring from the wound.

"Levi? O-oh. Good. Ya know, I'm sorry, Lev-"

"Not now, Eren. Some fucker made another attempt on your life, so now you need to rest and recuperate. Later, though. I promise." I set Eren down on the bed, anxious to take of his shirt to see how large the sound extended- or at least what was left of it.

Eren looked saddened for a moment before he started to slip from consciousness, and I felt my chest squeeze tight at the sight. 

"Mkay, Levi..."


	20. We're Okay

When I woke up, the first thing I was aware of was a warmth curled into my side. I knew without looking that it was Levi, and I was glad that he had forgiven me for pushing him away last night. I instinctively wrapped an arm around Levi's waist, smiling sleepily when he made a small sound of contentedness. Unfortunately, it didn't last, and I groaned when Levi shot out of bed when the realization that I was awake hit him.

"Eren! Are you okay?" I scowled and crawled over to lay my head in his lap before smiling up at him and nodding. "What happened? Where... Why did you go?" I felt my heart break at the expression on my boyfriend's face, and I reached blindly for one of his hands. He understood what I wanted and interlaced our fingers, but the expression on his face didn't change.

"I couldn't fall asleep, so I went for a walk. When I heard someone behind me, I just figured you'd come after me, so..." I averted my eyes, trying to convince both Levi and myself that I hadn't been desperate to make up with him. Levi bent down and kissed my forehead, and I sighed and went on. "I couldn't tell who it was, they wore all black and a mask but they seemed to be male, I guess. He jut kinda jumped out, stabbed me, and ran away. I passed out from blood loss and then the next thing I remember is waking up here." 

"That fucker! If I were there, I woulda-"

"You would've killed a human? Don't try to fool me, I know you've got too much of a soft heart for that." Levi scowled, but I ignored it and continued. "Anyway... I'm sorry Levi. For... Pushing you away. I was just scared... I still am. But, umm, if you still really want to... I could try? If you were really, really careful, then mayb-"

"Stop it! Eren, as much as I want to finish marking you as my own, can you please just look at the bigger picture for once? This was the third attempt on your life! And it's been the third time we haven't caught the person at fault..." I was surprised at Levis outburst, so rarely did he get mad at me it was terrifying when he did.

"Levi, calm down. I'm fine, and I will be fine, I have Titan healing powers. This time I healed faster than ever, so it's perfectly fine!" 

It stung. I heard the slap before I felt it, and when I did feel it stung. I sat up, backing away slightly from Levi. I raised a hand up to my cheek, eyeing the rage in the shorter man's eyes, and watched as he slowly lowered his hand back to his lap.

"Don't you ever say that someone trying to kill you is fine! Never! And what about the times your Titan healing powers have just stopped working? What if someone makes yet another attempt on your life and actually managed it because your Titan powers decided that they didn't give a shit? What then, Eren?" Levi's voice was raised in anger, but the fact that he was quickly dissolving into hysterics didn't get past me. I hesitated a moment, feeling the sting on my cheek, before I reached over and dragged Levi into a hug.

"Hey, it's alright. I'm sorry. I'll be more careful, okay?" I felt Levi collapse into me, and I smiled sadly when I felt him shaking.

"You'd better be, brat. No more nighttime escapades. No more leaving me. That scared me so much..." I ran my fingers through his hair, rocking back and forth and doing my best to be comforting.

"It was a stupid thing for us to get worked up over, huh?" Levi nodded into my shoulder, and I squeezed him tighter.

"I still wanna fuck you." I felt my face grow red, and I looked away when he raised his head to meet my eyes. 

"O-oh. Umm..." Levi narrowed his eyes, frowning.

"What are you so afraid of? You didn't seem so against it before... And I don't want to push you or some shit like that, but..." I sighed, then leaned down slightly to peck him on the lips.

"It hurts. A lot." I felt my face burn with embarrassment, but I held his gaze as be frowned at me.

"How do you know..." When his eyes went wide, I knew he had the wrong idea, and I rushed to correct him.

"No! Nonononono! It's not like that! Like, three weeks ago, I was getting anxious at the thought of going all the way with you, so in the shower I..." I looked away, voice quieting. "...might have played with myself back there. And it really hurt!" Levi smirked, ruffling my hair as I pouted.

"You have no idea how hot it is that you just admitted that. I promise to prepare you properly if we-"

"When."

"When we get there. Right now, though, I'm not doing anything until we deal with the problem at hand." I furrowed my brow, thinking.

"What problem?" As I finished speaking, there was a frantic knock at the door, Hanji yelling at us to open up.

"That one. Technically, she's the doctor around here, so I had to tell her you were stabbed." He leaned up, catching my mouth with his for a moment before giving me a last embrace. "I'm sorry for last night. And... This, too. I never should've hurt you, and if I ever do it again, you're to hurt me back and walk out. Okay?" He reached a hand up to stroke the cheek he had slapped, and I shook my head.

"I would never. I'd just give you another hug until you're feeling better. Then I'll kiss you, like this-" I placed a kiss on his forehead, smiling. "-and then we could go back to being a happy couple. But I know you'll never hurt me. Never on purpose. I trust you, Levi."

"You're an idiot, Eren." But he had gotten up and turned his back to me, rubbing at his face with both hands, and I knew I had done the complete opposite of annoy him.

"Guys! Could you please stop eating each others' faces for 30 seconds to let me in?" Levi grumbled and went to the door to unlock it, but when he turned back in my direction I didn't miss the soft pink dusting his cheeks. I grinned at him cheekily, though I knew I was blushing much harder than he was.

"It's okay, Hanji. I'm fine, see?" I waved at her and pointed to myself, but when I saw Levi's expression I hurried to correct myself. "Well, I'm okay now, but, um, I suppose I should give you a description of the guy who attacked me?" I shot Levi a questioning glance, but instead of answering he came over to sit on the bed with me and take his turn using my lap as a pillow. "...Did he sleep at all last night Hanji?"

"Aww, you two. And no, not really. I guess he woke up at like 2:00 in the morning and panicked when you weren't in bed with him."

"I did not panic you shitty four eyes!" Levi sat up slightly to glare at Hanji, but I eased him back down at the thought of him skipping sleep.

"Oh really? You just ran all over the place clutching his pillow without panicking?" I raised a hand to cover my giggle, but I felt myself glow with both embarrassment and happiness.

"I did not-"

"Levi, it's alright. You're adorable, honestly. But could you please get some sleep now? Tomorrow we have our first expedition in forever, and we can't have Humanity's Strongest losing sleep now can we?" Levi's expression softened a my words, and I watched as he settled back into my lap.

"I can sleep here?" I made a soft sound of confirmation before shifting so that I could run my fingers through his hair, enjoying the feeling of how soft it was as the motion turned repetitive and subconscious. Levi closed his eyes and gave one of his dainty little yawns before I turned my head to look at Hanji, who was watching us with her hands over her mouth to contain her squeals.

"Could you...?" She sighed, disappointed to leave us, but nodded all the same and left, closing the door quietly behind her. I looked back down at the half asleep corporal, grinning at the sight. That had been the first bump in our relationship, and now that it was over it suddenly seemed more real. I was in a real relationship, with ups and downs and arguments and cuddles, and I loved it. "Sweet dreams, Levi."


	21. Last Training

Levi's POV

 

After I woke up, the first thing I did was get the formation plans for tomorrow altered. Erwin seemed a bit annoyed that I refused to be part of a different fleet than Eren, but Hanji came by and bugged him with me until he agreed to put us both in the Northern Center fleet. The exposition's goal was to gather information on the Titans, as always, but this time everyone had strict orders to first attempt to communicate with Titans before killing them. No one wanted to believe that it was possible that there were more people like Eren out there, but the fact that he existed want I was possible and we had to take that into consideration from this point on.

"So now I get to ride with you?" I sent the Titan shifter a questioning glance, but kept walking to the fields for our last training session before tomorrow.

"You're going to have your own horse, but we'll be in the same fleet if that's what you mean." Eren facepalmed, groaning.

"Of course that's what I meant!" I shrugged stopping in the field we used for hand-to-hand. "Our last training's going to be hand-to-hand?" I shook my head, trying to figure out how to word this.

"Now, this wasn't my decision, but most of the Survey wants me to do some last tests on you before tomorrow. They want to make sure you won't go berserk if someone makes yet another attempt on your life." Eren rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed. "All you have to do is dodge the stuff I throw at you without attacking back. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I can do that. Doesn't mean I'm happy with it. Can I block?" I nodded reaching into the bag I had brought out with me. 

"So long as whatever you do can't be counted as an attack, anything goes. Well, no turning into a Titan, but that's pretty obvious." At my words, Eren grinned, and I raised an eyebrow.

"In that case, bring it on." I huffed my hair out of my eyes before turning around, walking back a bit before turning around and throwing a couple of knives his way without warning. Eren threw himself to the ground, and when he looked back up at me it was with annoyance evident in his eyes.

"I told you to bring it! I know you're not aiming for any of my vitals right now, and I hate that you're going easy on me." I frowned slightly, hesitating before Eren got up and moved to me to kiss me on the forehead. "I'll be alright, but it's nice to know your rather not hurt me too badly."

"Okay. If you're sur- Oi, brat!" While I was talking, he had snaked his hand down, presumably to hold mine as he so often did, but instead he had grabbed the bag of knives and other potentially deadly objects and turned to throw it as far as he could out of my reach. I reached up to smack his head, and he giggled.

"You said anything goes! That means I could totally do that!" Suddenly, he gasped, getting a wicked look on his face before he continued. "I could even use sex appeal..." I shuddered, shocked that it was even possible for him to change his voice that way so that it flowed like honey over me in the absolute most seductive way.

"Brat." He giggled, expression shifting back to carefree and playful before he hoped out of my reach.

"Come and get me! I know you could kill without weapons, so hurry it up!" I rolled my eyes, sighing before I let my lips tug upward in a small smile. I took off after him, quickly overtaking him and tackling him to the ground. He squirmed, but made no move to attack me back, so I go off him and shrugged.

"That's good enough. If anyone else says differently, they can go shove their head up their ass and try dealing with you themselves." Eren whined, widening his eyes and lunging forward from his spot on the ground to latch himself onto my leg.

"Noooooo... Levi, don't try to shove me off onto someone else!" I leaned down to pull at his hands weakly before ruffling his hair and standing back up. "Aww, thanks, Levi. I knew you loved me too much to really want me off you."

"Tch. I just didn't feel like putting a lot of effort into a shitty brat like you." I turned and started dragging him along as I walked, smirking as his initial yelp quickly dissolved into giggles and he repositioned himself so that he had both his arms and legs wrapped around my one leg. "Oi, what are you doing?"

"Enjoying the ride." I sighed, but continued over to fetch the bag he had thrown and the knives I had thrown until Eren's grip finally loosened and he let to of me to fall back onto the ground. "So was that really all I had to do for today?" 

"That was it. You have the rest of the day off." Eren jumped up, letting out a victory cry.

"Yes! I never get any time off!" I rolled my eyes, but made no move to argue with him. "So can I spend the time with you?" 

"If you want to attend a boring meeting full of people talking about politics and shit." I chuckled softly when Eren's face bunched up in disgust.

"Ew. I'll go see what Armin and Mikasa are up to, then. Have fun, old man." I scowled at him as he pecked me on the cheek and ran off to go find his friends, but like usual I found it hard to direct much of my annoyance at the Titan shifter. Oh well. 

 

~~~  
Mikasa's POV

 

I was surprised when Eren came up to Armin and I after lunch asking us if we were free. Usually he spent all his spare time with the Corporal, much to my annoyance. The two of them were unnecessarily affectionate, and in my opinion it was disgusting.

"Actually, we have a bit more to do before we're free, but your welcome to hang out with us if you don't mind scrubbing floors." Armin looked just as surprised as I was, but he still managed to reply without missing a beat.

"Ahhh, why do you guys still have stuff left to do, anyway? Seems like you two have more to do than anyone else on a daily basis." I scowled, and once again Armin took charge if the conversation.

"We lost a bet with a few others so we had to take their chores for three months. So will you join us?" Eren frowned, scratching the back of his neck before shrugging.

"Sure. What was the bet?" Armin and I exchanged a look, and when we returned our gazes back to Eren I stepped up to speak.

"That you wouldn't get together with the Corporal within the first month we were here in the castle with you guys." Eren's expression turned sour, and I glared at him, making it clear I thought they shouldn't have gotten together at all.

"Well I can see why you'd make that bet, but Armin, seriously? No faith, no faith." Armin grinned sheepishly, averting his gaze to the ground.

"Uhh, yeah, well. You're kinda a spineless wimp when it comes to relationships, so..." Eren gasped, mocking hurt feelings.

"Really! You wound me, Armin!" They both dissolved into laughter, and I grinned. I was glad to know we could still be like this, after joining the Survey Corps, after all those peoples' deaths we witnessed, after that asshole of our Corporal stole Eren away from me. It was comforting.

"Come on, guys. We've got some floors that are begging to be scrubbed for the fifteenth time this month." This time we all laughed, making our way to the supply closet. I wondered briefly what our lives would be like if we hadn't joined the Survey Corps, or even if we hadn't joined the army at all. But then I shook my head, discarding the thought- there's no point in dwelling on what ifs when there's a life set before you worth living, and with Eren, no matter where he was, I had one.


	22. Promise Me

Eren's POV

 

I woke up early the next morning, snuggling closer to Levi as I yawned before I remembered the date. I shot up, grinning, and proceeded to pounce on top of Levi and shake him in an effort to wake him.

"Levi! Levi, wake up!" My boyfriend groaned and tried to shove me off, but I giggled and clung onto him. "C'mon, Levi! We're leaving this place behind today!"

"Jesus Christ, Eren. It's like, four in the morning. We're not leaving for at least three hours. Go back to sleep." He rubbed at his face, still refusing to open his eyes.

"But... But... Levi!" I knew I probably sounded incredibly pathetic whining to the shorter man, so I decided to use it to my advantage and pulled the best pouty puppy-dog face I could muster. Levi opened a single eye halfway, then sighed and opened both eyes to roll them.

"Holy shit, you're like a little boy who's trying to wake up his parents Christmas morning. I'm up, I'm up." The puppy-dog look vanished, shoved away by a victorious grin. "What do you even plan on doing this early in the morning, hmm, brat?" 

"Well, as soon as you go back to calling me by my name, we can go see the Sun rise!" Levi raised an eyebrow, then proceeded to shove his head under his pillow.

"You woke me up early enough to see the Sun rise? No, thank you." His voice was muffled by the pillow, and I scowled before shifting so that I could stick my head under the pillow with him and give him a kiss. As I broke away, I took the pillow away, and it was Levi's turn to scowl.

"Please? Think about it: we could die today! Don't you want to see one last sunrise before you go?" Levi reached up to flick me on my nose, obviously annoyed.

"No. And don't even entertain thoughts of dying, you know I'll protect you." I smiled, leaning down to kiss the tip of his nose. "Besides, I've never cared enough to see the Sun rise before. What's different about today?" 

"Levi!" I gasped, getting off him to pull him into a sitting position. "That's it, we're watching the sunrise. I cannot believe you've never bothered watching one before!" Levi groaned, but stood when I tugged him out of bed.

"It's a ball of fire that rises every day. It's nothing special." I gasped once more before cuffing him over the ear, crossing my arms when he scowled at me.

"In a world where huge monsters who may just be one of us are out to eat us, no one lives plentifully, and everywhere you turn there's another act of hatred waiting for you, it's the everyday things that become important. Experiencing them means you managed to survive another day. Now get dressed, we have to go like, now if we want to make it."

Levi ran a hand through his hair and stretched, but didn't protest after that. I got dressed, impatiently walking the length of the room before turning right back around to walk the other way as I waited for Levi to finish his shower so that we could leave. I knew better than to tell him to skip his shower; he was too much of a clean freak for that. The second he was out, I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of our room, yelling in surprise when I almost ran into Hanji. 

"Hanji! Hi! Bye!" But before I could scamper off, she grabbed Levi's arm so that we each held one of his arms and were tugging in opposite directions, causing him to let out a small grunt.

"Wait! Where are you going so early?" I groaned, looking impatiently at the nearest window, which portrayed the sun starting to break the horizon.

"Sunrise! Gotta run!" I tugged at Levi's arm again, but Hanji held strong. "Levi, help!" 

"Tch." Levi rolled his yes before twisting his arm from Hanji's grasp, and I once more tried to run away with my boyfriend.

"Have fun, you two!" Hanji called out to us as Levi allowed me to pull him along, down hallways and through rooms. My pace grew quicker each time we past a window, revealing the sky growing brighter with each passing moment. By the time we had burst through the huge double doors into the outdoors, I had brought us to a sprint, and to my great surprise Levi even bother protesting. I spun in the direction of the rising disk of glaring light, raising a hand to black it from my vision as my expression turned sour with disappointment and let down hopes.

"...we missed it..." Levi glanced at me sharply, and I was suddenly aware of the sadness in my voice and evident on my face. I struggled to plaster a smile back on my face, but Levi sighed and reached out to stroke my cheek. I instinctively leaned into his hand, sniffling softly.

"Hey, it's alright. We can see tomorrow's sunrise together, okay?" I sniffled again, ignoring the voice in the back of my mind telling me that I was being ridiculous.

"You promise?" Levi rolled his eyes, looking at me with doubt.

"I don't like to promise things." I brought Levi into a hug without warning, clutching him to my chest as I fel my eyes begin to well up with tears.

"Promise me. Promise me that you and I will be able to see tomorrow's sunrise." I felt rather than heard the Corporal let out a sigh as he returned the hug, pulling away to wipe away my tears.

"I promise."


	23. A Ring

Levi's POV

 

Despite being an over active brat at the ass-crack of dawn, Eren burrowed himself back into our bed as soon as we got back to our room and proceeded to fall asleep. I sighed, brushing away some hair from his face, and froze when I saw his left hand laying free on his pillow. I felt my face go red as I debated over my choice for the hundredth time before going over to my desk, opening a drawer to draw out a price of string. I padded back over to Eren as quietly as I could, string clutched tightly in one hand.

I had first dreamt it, proposing to Eren. That had been a month ago, and I had dismissed it after I had woken up as ridiculous. I had known Eren for just over a year now, and while most of that time had been spent as his boyfriend, I couldn't say if it had been enough time. In a world where you could die any given day, when was it appropriate to ask someone to marry you? But over the past month, every little thing Eren did stood out to me, reminding me that I never wanted the brat to leave me. 

So I decided yes, I would propose to Eren, and I was going to make it as cliche and romantic as I possibly could. I didn't get many chances to act like a love-struck fool, but when I did it was always pleasant. Eren would turn bright red and struggle with his words, eventually giving up in favor of showing some sort of physical affection. So, I needed a ring.

I slowly, slowly lifted Eren's hand just enough to slide the string around his ring finger, pinching at the string to mark the place it met with the end. I took away the string then, slowly, slowly lowering his hand back to the pillow and releasing a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I left our room as quietly as I possibly could, hurrying to Hanji's room. I'd rather not talk to her about this kind of thing, as it would mean there would be no chance to back out, but she was the only one I figured could help me. 

"Oh, hey Levi! Where's Eren?" I flinched at the volume of her voice, glancing back towards our room.

"Asleep. Keep it that way." Hanji raised her eyebrows at me, catching on to the fact that I had come to her for a reason regarding the taller boy.

"Watcha need?" I felt my cheeks redden slightly, and Hanji grinned devilishly. "If you're looking for condoms or some sort of toy, I don't have any." I scowled, feeling my face become brighter.

"Shitty four eyes. No. I need your help getting a ring made." Hanji stared at me, eyes wide and mouth open before she broke down into squeals.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod that's so much better!" She hugged me tight, sniffling and whipping at her face with one hand as she freaked out. "You make mommy Hanji so proud! Oh- have you talked to mother Mikasa yet?" I grimaced, not wanting to think about how she would react.

"Not yet. So will you help me or just continue to make noise and bounce off the walls?" Hanji slapped her hands over her mouth and nodded frantically, and I rolled my eyes.

"How will you know what size ring to get? Something bigger than your boney little fingers, that's for sure, but- oh! That works!" I held out the string to her, still pinched between my fingers to mark the size of Eren's finger. "You measured the right finger?"

"The ring finger on the left hand, right?" Hanji nodded, taking the string from me carefully so as not to lose the spot.

"Follow me!" Hanji skipped down the hallway, making her way down to the rooms where the newest recruits slept. She stopped outside of one I didn't know the occupants of, knocking loudly.

"Wha?" The reply was sleepy, but soon after the door was opened by a former member of the 104th.

"Hi~ Levi needs a bit of help, you think you could contact your father and ask him to make an engagement ring? I'll pay." I opened my mouth to protest, but Hanji stuck a hand over my mouth to keep me quiet. "Your father does still runs that awesome ornamental glass and jewelry shop, right?"

"Yeah... Wait, what?" He turned to me, slowly waking up. "You want to ask someone to marry you? Oh my god, Eren! He's going to flip out! Lucky for you, Father's pretty damn good at rings. What kind of jewel you want? Eren likes green, right? You want an emerald? Or just the traditional diamond? And what about band width and color? How many jewels?" I remained silent, slightly embarrassed but more overwhelmed than anything.

"Uh..." Hanji laughed, clapping me on the shoulder.

"Look at that! You made him speechless! I don't think anyone's done that but Eren and Petra before, feel proud!" I flinched at Petra's name; proposing to Eren felt like a betrayal to her, though I really had only loved her like a sister and never returned her much more serious feelings. "Oh... Sorry Levi... Probably not the best time to bring her up..."

"Well, come in, we've got a lot of stuff to go through here!" The boy laughed out the words, obviously trying to make the situation seem less awkward and strained before beckoning us into the room he shared with three others.

We were in there for quite awhile.


	24. Outside the Walls

Eren's POV

 

I awoke to Levi kissing my forehead, and I smiled as his familiar scent filled me with sleepy pleasure. I opened my eyes halfway, craning my head upwards to place a sloppy kiss on my boyfriend's forehead in return.

"What time is it?" Levi rolled his eyes, mocking annoyance.

"Time for you to get your horse ready and get into your gear." I gasped, excitement pumping through my veins. "Now get your ass out of bed, I want to make it before we leave." 

"So," I said, getting out of bed and watching as the shorter man moved around the bed to straighten the covers, "we get to go farther out there today. We won't make it back here before nightfall, so where will we be sleeping? Another abandoned castle?"

"No, actually, a fort this time. Come on, brat, you ready yet?" I groaned, crossing my arms and glaring at Levi.

"Not a brat. I think from now on every time you call me a brat, I'm going to call you an old man." Levi scowled, but didn't say anything else as we made our way out of our room and to the kitchen so that I could grab something to eat on the way to the horse stalls.

Even as we rode through most of the morning, the conversation between us remained minimal. Levi, out on another expedition, had Humanity's Strongest shoes to fill, while I was a volatile newbie playing the role of Humanity's Last Hope and that of a man who had had several attempts on his life. Even so, I felt Levi's gaze constantly wonder towards me, and it was hard to stay focused myself. 

The first time we saw Titans was midway through the day, a group of three 12-meter class who seemed not to notice us. Yet still the signal flares went up, and I felt an itching to take them down myself as I watched from my center position as a few members stationed in the Upper Right section were dispatched to make the kills. I tensed as they approached the Titans, who were now very much aware of our presence, imagining flying through the air myself to plunge my blades into their necks and the sick satisfaction of killing.

"Oi, you okay? You look like you're about to piss yourself." I turned my head sharply towards Levi, surprised at the question directed at me.

"Oh... Yeah, I just wish..." I trailed off, looking back at the men who had just returned to their positions.

"You want to fight." He said it bluntly, stating the facts with indifference. He sighed, looking forward again. "I do too."

"Oh, sorry! I know you usually have a frontal position..." Levi sent me a sly glance from the corners of his eyes, accompanied by a small smile.

"It's fine. I'd rather ride with you, and you have to be in the Center fleet for both protection and political reasons." I nodded curtly, trying to ignore the warmth flooding to my cheeks.

"Ah... Right..." The rest of the ride remained silent save for the pounding of our horses' hooves tearing up the grass and dirt, and our journey remained uneventful.

When we reached our destination, a monstrous crumbling structure that towered above us and any Titan who wandered this way, I watched as Levi finished grooming his horse. I had finished grooming my own, but Levi being Levi even his horse had to sparkle. As I watched him stretch upwards to brush out its' mane, I had to stifle a laugh at the frustrated expression on the man's face. He was working so hard to try and reach his horse, and yet he was so much shorter than the creature that it was suddenly hard to believe he could ride it at all. I cracked a grin as I snuck up behind my boyfriend to suddenly wrap my arms around his waist and lift him off the ground, laughing aloud as he let out an outraged cry.

"What the hell, brat?" He slapped at my arms, trying to get me to let go. He was successful, and I stumbled backwards, laughing much harder now.

"I'm not a brat, old man!" The words came out strangled, more for show than anything as I struggled with my laughter. "It just looked like my little kitty cat needed a boost!"

I laughed harder as Levi's cheeks reddened, positively growling, and I could picture the flattened cat ears and twitching tail once more. I went back up to my boyfriend, quieting my giggles as I brought him into a hug and buried my face in his hair. I felt his muscles relax as he sighed before returning the hug, cuddling into me in the most perfect way.

"Sure was a long day, huh?" Levi grunted in a form of consent, and I felt him shudder as I spoke into his hair. "I ache all over from being on my horse all day." Another grunt of consent. This time, Levi lifted his head and slightly pulled away, interlacing our fingers to quiet my protests.

"Lets go relax then, shall we?" I nodded, then helped Levi finish grooming his horse and put away all supplies before we made our way up to the highest floor where Humanity's Strongest was to spend the night. The room wasn't quite as nice as the room we had been spending our nights in, but nonetheless it was obvious that it was a nicer room than the standard ones and I wasted no time in flopping down on top of the bed.

"Ack... Filthy." I glanced at Levi, who was examining the dust in the room, and grinned.

"C'mere." Levi looked at me skeptically, but did as I said and allowed me to pull him down on the bed next to me. "You can't relax if your focusing on the negatives."

"I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. And while you and some pessimist are arguing about whether the glass is half full or half empty, I'm going to drink it." I broke down into laughter for the second time that evening, enjoying the rare non-shit related humor. "Speaking of, I'm hungry."

"We ate dinner on the way here!" Levi shrugged, coming closer to me on the bed.

"Who said I wanted food?" I looked at him, puzzled, until he kissed me and licked his lips, causing me to go bright red and break down into a stammering mess. "I have quite the tasty treat right here for me to enjoy."

"That's...umm.... Thanks? Maybe? How do you want... I don't..." Levi chuckled, and I looked for the open window causing my chill (because there was no way it could have been that my boyfriend was just that sexy, uh-uh).

"It's quite amusing watching you turn bright red. And people say I have a dirty mind- I could've just wanted a kiss." I tried to look away, to physically turn my body away from the shorter man, but he had locked his arms around me in a way that only allowed me to turn on my back. I did so, eyes widening and face burning when Levi used that as a chance to straddle my waist, bending down to place small kisses and nips on my neck and collar bone.

"S-stop..." I didn't really mean it, it just seemed... Weak, I guess to go down without a fight though I very much wanted to hurtle down as fast as I could. As if I didn't tell him to stop I would lose major man points. Stupid. So I was completely shocked when Levi sat up, annoyance evident in his eyes as well as resignation and a bit of guilt. He sighed and rolled off me to lay beside me, back turned and obviously pouting, though he didn't curl up so I knew he wasn't that devastated- as if he had expected it.

"Whatever." I hesitated before scooting over to him and wrapping an arm around him, kissing a spot behind his ear apologetically.

"Sorry... I didn't think... I guess I didn't expect you to actually stop. May not have said that if I did." Levi rolled back over to look at me, more annoyed now but also slightly hopeful.

"Brat. Don't say things you don't mean. And of course I'm going to stop if you tell me to, it's not something I really take lightly." I averted my eyes, feeling guilty and more than a little embarrassed.

"Sorry. Really, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like ... Sorry..." Levi rolled his eyes, annoyance slowly slipping away.

"You don't have to apologize a million times. But..." His expression turned devilish, and I gulped as he grinned. "If you didn't mean it, does that mean I get to continue?"

"That's, umm, maybe? I mean..." I sighed, blushing hard and looking away as I gave in to the temptation to let Levi have his way with me. "Yes... Please...." Levi smirked triumphantly, annoyance completely gone to be replaced with an anticipatory desire.

"Good..." His voice was rough in my ear, breath dancing across my skin. Then Levi's lips were upon my own, a heated kiss in which there were no question about dominance. 

When we broke away, both of us panting heavily, neither of us bothered to wipe away the strand of glistening saliva still connecting our mouths until a smile showing just how pleased he was with himself made its way onto Levi's lips and he closed his eyes, humming happily. He opened them to brush fingers first across my lips and then his own, and I averted my eyes as I blushed. 

Somewhere, in the very back of my mind where I was still thinking rationally, I blankly noted that Levi was on top of me again with one cool, smooth hand tugging at my shirt. I moved both of my hands to clumsily undo my shirt, trying my best to avoid looking at the man above me, who was busy undoing his own shirt with nimble fingers now that he had been assured that I was taking care of mine. Once Levi had rid himself of his shirt, I paused in what I was doing to run my eyes over his body, and Levi smirked at me before leaning down to finish the job for me before throwing the shirt across the room to join his own.

My boyfriend wasted no time in lowering his head to place a trail of kisses and nips and suckles from my neck down my chest, pausing only to flick at my hardened nipples and give one of them a quick lick. I shivered, subconsciously grabbing at Levi's head with both hands and threading my fingers through his hair. He continued to make his way down my body irritatingly slowly, and I whined with impatience every time he stopped completely to admire something he liked. By the time he had reached my pants, I was shuddering uncontrollably, not able to form the words begging him to release my straining erection. Yet even as he saw the pleading look in my eyes, he stopped completely and sat up slightly, looking me straight in the eyes.

"Last chance to back out." His voice was breathy, and his expression showed that he desperately did not want me to back out, but he had nothing to worry about. I shook my head, trying to guide Levi back down with one hand while I struggled with undoing my pants with the other. For a moment, relief flooded the shorter man's face, but then it was gone, replaced once more with hunger and lust as he brushed away my hand and undid my pants for me.

He used one hand to lift my hips slightly when he was done as he tugged both pants and boxers down and off completely to join our shirts with the other, eyeing my now exposed cock as I would imagine I myself looked when I was offered a sweet. I closed my eyes as the cool air enveloped my throbbing erection, opening them slightly once more to plead to Levi through half-lidded eyes. He got the message-that or he wanted just the same as me-and soon neither of us were wearing any clothes, each one staring hungrily at the other. I broke eye contact when I felt a finger swirling at my entrance, but it was gone the next second to reappear by Levi's mouth, where he sucked on it dutifully for a few seconds along with a few other fingers before returning them to where they had come from. 

I opened my mouth to yelp when the first finger eased its way in, but no sound came out. It was painful, as I remembered, but not quite as much as I had worried. Levi waited, looking at me with concern as I adjusted to the feeling of something inside of me. He wiggled his finger around a bit once I had gotten used to it and the pain had faded, but it was soon joined by a second finger. This time I did cry out, wincing as he stretched me. He took one of my hands with his spare hand and raised it to his lips to kiss it, worry evident in his eyes, but I made no move to tell him to stop.

"Relax..." He added a third finger then, scissoring his fingers to prepare me the best he could. I shut my eyes tight against the pain, feeling tears well up in the corners of my eyes only to have them brushed away by gentle fingers. Levi moved his fingers around, as if looking for something, but my question was lost when he brushed against my prostate and triggered a cry of pleasure from me. He smiled down at me triumphantly, as if to say 'see? It doesn't hurt, right?' He moved his fingers in and out of me for a bit more, drawing out moans and cries for him to go harder and faster as I grasped at the bed sheets only half aware of reality.

The spell was broken when something occurred to Levi, causing him to lean over to the bedside table and remove the fingers I had grown accustomed to and now loved. As he did so, his cock brushed against mine, and I slapped a hand over my mouth to muffle my involuntary moan. Levi sent me a quick smirk, but his attention was focused on rifling through the drawer he had opened, his expression turning sour.

"Shit." He looked back at me apologetically, closing the drawer and returning to his former position. The movement drew out another moan from me, and I looked away and blushed furiously when I instinctively bucked my hips upward for more friction. "Eren, I don't have any lube or condoms here..." The words seemed out of place, filled with worry and annoyance.

"I don't... Care.... Just please..." Levi looked down at me doubtfully, and I squeezed my eyes shut before sitting up and pushed him off of me and took in as much of his length as I could without warning. He gasped, hands flying to tangle themselves in my hair, and I shuddered as I bobbed my head up and down listening to him struggle to hold back his moans of pleasure. It didn't last long, but I tried to wet his cock as much as possible while still doing my best to pleasure him, and before I knew it Levi had yanked my head away abruptly.

"That'll work... If you went any longer I would've-" I silenced him with a kiss, now doing everything I could to move this along so that I didn't have to suffer waiting any longer, and when I broke away I laid back down on the bed, panting. I needed him in me, I needed him now, and the memory of his fingers moving inside me drove me crazy with impatience.

"Please, Levi..." The older man shuddered and nodded, obviously just as impatient to continue this as I was. He took one of my legs in each hand and positioned them so that my legs were thrown over his shoulders, his warm and now wet member positioned at my entrance. I felt him slowly push in, the feeling both uncomfortable and welcome. He kept pushing, pausing now and then to let me adjust to his size. When he was fully inside me he waited once more, driving me to start moving myself when he stayed still long enough. He caught on immediately, slowly pulling out until only his head remained inside me before plunging himself back in, faster now, harder. I winced at the slight pain, but shook my head at his unspoken question.

Do you want me to stop? Oh god, no, I didn't want him to stop. So he kept going, steadily increasing speed and how hard he thrusted into me until he shifted slightly, and I cried out and blew open my eyes as he hit my prostate. A ghost of a smirk made its way onto his lips, out of place among his heavy eyelids and the lust and pleasure displayed everywhere else on his face. He continued to hit me exactly where I wanted him to most, all my discomfort fading into intense pleasure. I made no effort to hold back my cries; I don't think I could've if I had tried. Levi was adding to the noise as well, though he was desperately trying to hold back any sounds he could. 

All at once, Levi slipped out of the rhythm we had built up, his thrusts jerking a bit more but nonetheless still just as hard and fast. We were both at our edges, breathing hard and sweating and moaning and crying out as flesh slapped against flesh. Levi moved one of his hands from my hips to my dripping erection, jerking his hand in time to his thrusts. I lasted only a few seconds before it was too much for me, and I shuddered and cried out and went limp as a white sticky mess exploded onto Levi's hand. Levi came soon after, though he rode out his orgasm before collapsing on top of me.

Levi sighed and pushed himself off me to pull himself out of me, and I shuddered at the sudden feeling of emptiness as Levi grimaced at the cum leaking out my ass onto the bed. He carefully lowered himself to one side of me, mumbling something into my skin as he curled into me.

"What?" My voice was quiet, breathless, but he heard. He pulled his head away slightly to kiss my cheek sleepily and repeat what he had said.

"I said thanks." I grinned at him, not one hundred percent sure what he was thanking me for but too tired to ask, and hummed an answer. He pulled himself closer again, whispering one more thing into my skin, though this time I heard it. "I love you, Eren." 

"Love you too." And then I was asleep, finally giving in to the dulled edges of my mind begging to rest.


	25. The Beginning of the End

Levi's POV

I didn't want to be awoken for anything but Eren's quest to watch the sunrise, but obviously I can't awake to my preferred circumstances. Instead, I was yanked from a dreamless sleep by an urgent rapping on our door, accompanied by the anxious sound of Hanji yelling for us to get up. I frowned, refusing to open my eyes and trying to block out the world by burying my head deeper into the crook of Eren's neck. But the noise didn't stop, in fact, it grew louder. So with a sigh, I disentangled my limbs from my boyfriend's, who was still sound asleep with the faintest of smiles curving his lips upward. I smirked as I ran my eyes over the small bruises I had left along his body before leaning down and kissing his forehead lightly and getting out of bed. I grumbled to myself as I struggled to tug my pants on and the first shirt I grabbed, Hanji still banging at our door as if the world was falling in around us.

"What the fuck do you want?" The words were snappish, full of my annoyance and anger at being woken up in the middle of the night. Hanji opened her mouth to say something, but stopped and frowned, looking me up and down before grinning and rolling her eyes. I looked down, scowling when I realized the shirt I was wearing was unmistakably Eren's, knowing now what the expression on Hanji's face meant she knew.

"About time. Anyway, you have to wake up Eren, this place is under attack. By like, fifty Titans." I raised an eyebrow, annoyed and not believing her exaggeration. But Hanji remained in front of me, looking apprehensive, so I sighed and ran a hand through my already disheveled hair before going back to Eren's side. Hanji ran off the second she saw me give in, and I was suddenly aware of the noise outside. Screams, thunderous footsteps, clawing fingers at the walls of our fort as people whirled around on 3D Maneuver Gear. My annoyance suddenly shifted into urgency as I rushed to shake Eren awake, suddenly not sure Hanji was exaggerating. But she had to be, right?

She wasn't.

Eren was just as displeased as I had been to be awoken in the middle of the night (though he seemed quite content when he saw me wearing his shirt), but when he heard the hellish sounds outside he shuddered and didn't protest getting into uniform and gear. We raced from our room when we were ready, heading up to the roof as we secured the last buckles on our 3DMG. I threw the trap door open when we reached the top, freezing at the sight before me. Half eaten bodies laid on the roof, steam clouded the night sky to block out the stars and moon and any light we could've had. It was hopeless. There really were Titans surrounding the fort from every side and far out, clambering over each other to reach our fort. Some of them were moving slowly and sleepily and some of them were moving quickly, calculating the flight of those flying toward them to tear their lives away from them. 

I shut my eyes tight when one, a large seemingly smart one, grabbed the wire of a faceless soldier and swung it so that he slammed into a tree and died instantly, trying to fight off unpleasant memories that were bubbling up. Nobody else seemed to notice his death, or that of anyone around them, save for the rare few sobbing over the bodies of lost loved ones. Eren, impatient to see what was happening, pushed me out of his way so that he could squeeze his head through the trap door next to mine. His eyes grew wide as he inhaled sharply, not wasting any time in pushing me out of his way and scrabbling up onto the roof. He turned, holding out his hand to help me up, but his attention was elsewhere. I took his hand and allowed him to pull me upwards, also scanning the faces of both the dead and living in search of the ones I knew Eren must be looking for.

"There," I whispered, pointing out at a shape bringing down a Titan who had been trying to climb the wall of our fort, "Ackerman's wearing that scarf again, you can tell from that it's her." I could feel the tension seep out of my boyfriend, since he had spotted Arlert just a moment before, and I was surprised to realize that I too was relieved, and not just because Eren cared for the two so much.

"Come on, then. We should at least try and fight. I can't believe that there's this many... And at night, too... Actually, what we need is a plan." I nodded, both of us watching and Eren flinching as someone ran out of gas and fell. The drop killed him, his scream cutting off short when he hit the ground, and yet again no one turned to look at their fallen comrade.

"What the hell can we do?" I spoke softly, as if talking too loudly was wrong in the chaos of the night, and Eren clutched at my hand tightly. I felt guilty doing nothing, standing and watching as yet more of humanity died in vain. I was supposed to be the strongest, yet all I could do was watch as the hideous nightmare unfolded and clutch at my boyfriend's hand just as tightly as he held mine.

"I don't know... Those Titans, look-" he pointed at a cluster of 12-meter Titans who were standing farther away from the mess of bodies and blood and steam, "what are they doing? I think... I think that some of these Titans are like me. They seem... Smart. What if..."

"If we took down the ones in charge of the operation?" Eren nodded, both of us now focused on the cluster of unmoving Titans. There were six of them in total, watching the scene before them as disinterestedly as one could watch a bloodbath. If anyone was in charge, it was them. I jerked my attention away when Erwin flew past to take down a Titan who was gnawing at an already dead soldier. I squeezed Eren's hand tightly before letting go, running to the edge of the roof and jumping off. I heard Eren yelp of surprise, but I flew through the battlefield with my eyes set on my friend. I caught up to him easily, raising an eyebrow at him when I had to slay two Titans that were coming in at him as he took down a third.

"You're losing your touch!" I hated screaming. Voices were deadlier when quiet, points gotten across easier. When you screamed you lost the point behind your words, and they hit people with blunted edges instead of sharp ones. But here, I had to yell to be heard, and my voice was torn at by the wind and surrounding screams of both beast and man before it reached the one I needed to talk to most at the moment.

"Glad to see Hanji was finally able to raise the dead. Honestly, you guys sleep like rocks!" Erwin was screaming too, both of us hurtling towards another group of Titans as we cried to each other over the calamity laid before our feet. Neither of us had to speak to know that I would take the larger ones, neither of us needed reminder that even with a higher position Erwin still stumbled and fell sometimes.

"Listen, Eren and I need you to get together some men! There's a group of six Titans, the smart ones that are probably shifters, that are watching us tear at each other from back there!" I gestured out towards where Eren and I saw the Titans, and we flew towards the next group as we batted uselessly at the endless flow of monsters. "Fighting randomly is useless, so we should focus on the ones that look like they're in charge! Titans wouldn't attack like this in such large numbers, at night no less, unless they had a reason!"

"If you're right, then there are a lot more shifters than just Eren! But you're right, what we're doing now isn't accomplishing anything! Alright, I'll get the men!" I nodded, taking down another Titan before swinging around and flying back towards the fort where I had left Eren. I spotted a blur of blond below me, and turning to look I altered my course immediately. I shot downwards, releasing my blades so that they cut through the Titan's eyes. It reared back and screamed in the most inhuman way, clutching at its eyes with its hands, and Arlert lowered his arms from their defensive position across his head. I landed beside him, helping him up before turning back around to catch on to the Titan's neck and swing around it, two fresh new blades cutting through its nape to send it to the ground. I flew past Arlert, who looked confused but grateful, making my way to the roof once more.

"Thanks!" I nodded at Eren as I landed, knowing he must've been watching Arlert with horror as he had been too far away to do anything. It was possible he hadn't even seen him until I did, in which case he was probably feeling guilty about not noticing before.

"Erwin said he'd get some soldiers together to help us take down those Titans in the back. If they get their asses over here fast enough, we may have a chan- ah, look, there they are." Erwin landed on the roof followed by a group of fifteen others, most of whom seemed to be trying to look everywhere but the bodies at their feet and hear anything but the screams of their comrades.

"What do you need us to do, sir?" To my surprise, I recognized the one who spoke as the idiot who usually stirred up trouble whenever he and Eren where in the same room, and several others I now noticed were from the 104th as well- Ackerman included.

"Look there." It was Eren who spoke, pointing to the six Titans we had seen before.

"What about them?" It was Ackerman who was speaking now, by her gaze was fixed on the lack of distance between Eren and I. I rolled my eyes at her before stepping forward, immediately commanding everyone's attention.

"Listen up! If you don't want to die without actually helping humanity, it'd be best if you did as I say! If the shitty brains you all posses are worth anything, you must have noticed that not all of the Titans seem to be quite so mindless. Those are the ones that seem to try and block their necks, and those are probably shifters like Eren. Those Titans out there-" I gestured towards the group- "are also shifters. All they've been doing is watching, which gives us reason to believe that they might be leading the rest of these Titans to attack us during the night. If we can take them down, we might be doing something relatively useful instead of flying around and throwing ourselves into the mouths of the rest of these filthy things!" 

"Do you really think that taking them down might stop the attack?" Ackerman again.

"It doesn't matter to you what I think. What matters are my orders, and those are to follow me and take down those six in the back. Try to avoid contact with these others, I don't want you guys dying before we even reach our destination!" And with that I turned and shot myself off the roof, Eren close behind.


	26. You Don't Get To Say Goodbye

Levi's POV

Ackerman was at Eren's side in seconds, and the rest of the group were following close behind. I did my best to stay ahead of everyone to clear a path through the Titans, and to my reluctant admittance Ackerman helped quite a bit. Soon we hunched low in the top branches of a tight cluster of trees, eyeing the group of six watching Titans who now stood only 20 meters away. I did a quick head count; everyone was still here except Erwin, who had stayed to help the remaining soldiers at the fort. Eren was by my side with one hand in mine, and when I turned to say something to him I immediately saw through to what he was thinking and cuffed him over the back of his head to drag his focus to me.

"Don't shift, okay? It's hard enough to keep track of you when you're in your human form, but it's near impossible to do so when you're wrestling a Titan. And despite what I said, I'd rather not cut off your limbs to get you free." Eren, surprised I could tell what he was thinking, looked annoyed with me for a moment before sighing and leaning in to kiss my cheek.

"Fine. You stay safe, too." I nodded once, then turned to my makeshift squad to bark out commands. "You, you and you, take down the one nearest to us. You, you, and you take down the one next to it and you, you and you take down the one behind it. You, you and you go for the one farthest away, and the rest of you take care of the one behind that one. Eren and I will get the one up front, Ackerman come join us when you've finished. The rest of you are too help out your comrades the best you can, but under no circumstances can you pause if someone dies. Keep going, finish the job. Try to use the element of surprise the best you can, since they'll try their best to guard their necks. If I'm right and they're shifters, take whoever's inside hostage and don't let them hurt themselves. And if it comes down to it... Ackerman's in charge." 

Eren looked at me as if about to say something, but I silenced him with a wave of a hand. I knew he'd rather not think about any of us dying, but I had to set things up for the worst case scenario. Everyone nodded, nervous smiles trying to will away the thought of Humanity's Strongest not being strong enough and trying to stay positive. What a fruitless endeavor that was.

I turned back around look again at the Titans, who were still watching the battle before them. I took a deep breath, let go of Eren's hand, and jumped forward to swing back around behind the Titans. We couldn't quiet the whir of our gear, but luckily the noise everyone else made covered us up so we were able to get behind the Titans without their notice. I did one last head count before waving everyone forward, and I grimaced as I flew through the group trying to ignore my subordinates' troubles. Ackerman's group was the first to take down their Titan; it fell to the ground seconds after she had launched herself into the air. She joined Eren and I as we streaked through the darkened sky, coming up on my left instead of Eren's right as I had assumed she would.

"Sir, they're shifters! But... The person inside is already dead!" We had reached the Titan now, one with unusual golden colored eyes. Ackerman's news caused me to look away from the target as I cut through its shoulder, still immobilizing it but not cutting as deep as I had planned.

"What?" Eren had taken the other shoulder, Ackerman swung down to cut through behind its knees. It toppled to the ground, and I spun past its neck to cut through it, halting myself on its other shoulder to look inside its neck.

There was someone in there, I could see that much through the steam. I hopped closer and prepared myself to grab whoever was inside, but recoiled my hand when it touched rotting flesh.

"Filthy... Well, now we know why they aren't putting up a fight..." Eren landed beside me, taking a look inside before shuddering and moving behind me. I looked back at him, furrowing my brow and frowning at his expression. "What's wrong?" Eren looked down at me, startled, and quickly averted his eyes.

"It's just that... These are... Like... Me..." His voice had struggled with volume the entire sentence, but at the end it dropped off completely. I looked back at the corpse, slowly disintegrating along with the rest of the Titan in the steam, then back at Eren's big ass Caribbean eyes, full of life. I smiled at him then, trying to comfort him without physical contact under the sharp watching eyes of Ackerman.

"You may be able to shift into Titan, but does that make you one? No. Just because you have this ability doesn't mean we can lump you together with the rest. I don't see you hardening crystal over yourself to keep yourself safe, you're one of a kind. You won't end up like this. Okay?" 

Eren nodded, glumly, looking over my shoulder at the now mostly-gone Titan. We were basically just standing on the bone of its shoulder now, both of us shifting our weight awkwardly and shooting Ackerman nervous glances. She sighed and rolled her eyes, flying off to help the others. No one seemed to be having a ton of trouble, as none of the kind-of-dead Titans did anything more than swatted in the general direction of the soldiers buzzing around them, but it was better safe than sorry. I relaxed without Ackerman five feet away, sighing with relief before going up on tip-toe to give Eren a peck on the lips. He grinned, hugged me close, and completely avoided looking anywhere near where the corpse had been fused in the now nonexistent neck.

Without exchanging any more words, we both split off to help the others, of whom no one had died and most of the six had fallen but everyone looked either repulsed or incredibly confused. After the last of the six was dead, steam pouring from its gaping wound, we all met back at the last clump of trees we had perched in, and I did another head count before clearing my throat and grabbing their attention.

"They were shifters, and I have no clue why they seemed to be long dead, but I have one theory: we've considered the possibility of other shifters out here before, and tonight proves that theory. But it also brings to light that it is possible that all Titans were shifters at some point in time... And that they completely fused with their Titan selves to live as a beast full-time. If that is the case... All we've ever done is spent our time slicing through human flesh." 

There was a moment of silence as that sunk in, but then there were screams. One person, who had nearly fainted at the sight of rotten bodies earlier, seemed to be fighting off tears. Eren looked at me sharply, obviously not surprised by the revelation but surprised the I had decided to share it with the squad. I waited a few moments before continuing, unsure of how to get them back to where they were currently- war. 

"Oi! I'm not a brainiac, I don't know if that's for sure! It's my speculation, my opinion, and I already told you that my opinion doesn't matter to you so long as I give you orders. Well, I have orders, so shut the fuck up so that you can hear them." The shouts had died down, but the one girl was still sniffling. "The Titans around the fort have slowed down! I don't know if those zombie Titans had mind control or some shit, but now that they're dead the others are starting to go back to their usual nighttime behavior. Now it's more obvious which are the shifters and which aren't, and your orders are to go back and rejoin the fight. Focus on the shifters, check for decaying bodies, and tell anyone still alive to do the same. We have to finish off the smart ones before the Sun comes up, because none of us will make it alive if we have to deal with Titans in the day plus the shifters." 

"Quite the optimist, aren't you?" I glanced back at Eren, ignoring the nervous chuckles I heard.

"I already told you- I'm a realist. And humanity has never stood much of a chance of living." The chuckles died, and Eren looked at me as if he was barely fighting back the urge to scold me for giving shitty pep talks. Well, it's a good thing I hadn't meant to give a pep talk. "Get going then!" And we all flew off, Eren and I included.

Though there were less active Titans, the chaos seemed to have grown. A few people had taken down some of the slower Titans that had appeared to be shifters, and upon discovering the dead within had quickly sent the rumor around that we were being attacked by zombie Titans. Erwin was doing almost nothing to put order to the mess, so when my orders made their way around everyone seemed glad of having instructions on how to handle the inhuman dead. Or... The previously human dead. 

I did my best to avert my eyes from any of the corpses inside the Titans, spinning and flying and killing while doing my best not to think of what this all meant for Eren. I had told him that he was different, and it was true, but what would happen to him if he spent more time as a Titan? Would he fuse completely, skin deteriorating and muscles melting and bones dissolving to form a fleshy rotting corpse and eventually nothing where he should have a beating heart and working lungs? The thoughts terrified me, and I made a mental note that when we were done with this, if we were done with this, I would request that Eren never shift again. 

It was almost easy killing the weird kind-of-dead Titans, once you were able to fool yourself into believing that it didn't bother you anymore. None of them put up much of a fight, and the dormant Titans who were waiting for the Sun were actually great for hooking our wires into to shoot towards the next target. I found myself checking over my shoulder to Eren almost every minute, uncomfortable without him by my side but always reassured of his life with every turn of my head. And every time I looked back at him, I would see the sky. The steam was dissipating, so some last stars were visible as hints that the sunrise was coming, and with the night quieting from its terror-filled screams I wondered if we could finish in time to watch the sunrise together like I had promised. We seemed to be almost done, but then another Titan would make a move to kill one of us and we would turn our attention on it and then the one after it and then the one after it.

I hated it, hated how my movements were becoming methodical and hopeful when just minutes before the situation was hopeless and new and horrendous. I hated how even as Titans' bodies would disintegrate, you could always find a lifeless human with staining blood and stiffening limbs. I hated how no one spoke of hope for fear of it getting that much worse, and most of all I hated how every slice of flesh I made I heard a scream. All the screams were human, all the screams were in my head, all the screams were reminders that these nightmares used to be like us, that Eren could be like them.

We finished in what was probably less than ten minutes, possibly less than five. But when we met on the rooftop, all of us who remained, no one let out victory cries. We were still surrounded by currently dormant Titans, and many soldiers were flicking their gaze from the monsters and the predawn sky. It had been easy when all we had to deal with were corpses driving the Titans, but when we were dealing with the abnormals and 12-meter and 15-meter class crazies, people were dying. A lot of people were dying, and no one was quite brave enough to think about facing those death-bearing creatures as soon as the Sun came up.

"I'm going to make this brief, because obviously we don't have much time. You killed the zombie things, good for you, now slice the necks of as many of these others as you can before they become active again, because if we can't seriously decrease the numbers of our enemy we're all dead. Go!" 

And it was as if we had never stopped, flying from unmoving Titan to unresponsive Titan and slicing out chunks from their necks without thinking about what might have been in those necks before. We were doing well, well enough to hope, but we were humans and the world was pitted against us and we were doomed to fail. The first scream wiped all hope from our eyes, everyone pausing to watch the arm of an unsuspecting soldier hurtle through the air and hit the head of another Titan, who stirred and sniffed the air like a blood hound before opening its mouth and snapping at the air and the screams that made it thick with tension and fear.

Our movements became faster, our men became fewer. Our head start had been very little, and now it was over altogether. But there were still too many Titans to take refuge inside, so we continued to kill and be killed as the dawn turned loud once more with the unearthly sounds of dying men and fiends. I still looked around for Eren, but not as much. I was Humanity's Strongest, and this is what I was expected to do- kill. But I kept a close eye on the Sun, which had lightened the sky to be too beautiful for the battle we fought but had not yet shown itself to begin its ascent.

But then there was one single time I turned my head and could not find Eren, and that one single time turned into two times and three times and then I was panicking, crying out for him as I flew and spun and killed. On the fourth time I looked for him, I found him. On the fourth time, I looked down. I dropped immediately, collapsing at his side. I felt numb, the world had gone silent around me as the battle raged on. I stared at Eren, I stared at what was left. His head was gone.

It wasn't the tear of Titan's teeth though, no, it was the clean cut of blade. This was the fourth attempt on Eren Yeager's life, and it was successful. I was unable to process what was happening, was unable to cry and sob and cradle what was left of him and hold his hand. There was no hand left to hold, and there was no blood to stain my hands with. Eren was vaporizing, just like the Titans, just like the dead used-to-be-humans we had killed. All I could do was sit and watch and feel my world crumble down around me as Eren disappeared from me, sit and watch as the one thing in this entire fucked up world I had grown to love was yanked away from me without warning. 

Hanji was at my side now, I think she was crying. But she was also pulling at my arm, she was reminding me of my own orders. We were not to even pause if someone died, and here I was frozen. Erwin was here too, now, both my friends taking my arms and pulling me to my feet and turning me around from... The empty space I had been staring at. There was nothing left. Nothing left but the stupid key Eren always wore around his stupid neck, stupidly gleaming in the light of the stupid sunrise. I tore myself from Erwin and Hanji, grabbing the key from the ground and clutching it tight so that it dug into my skin and now the tears came, my vision blurred and my sense of left and right and up and down gone. I was being pulled away now, the key being pried from my grasp and the blood that had welled up ignored as the key was slipped over my neck, handing the duty of going to Eren's basement, Eren's house without him to me because-oh!-I was still Humanity's Strongest. 

So long as we were strong, we didn't need hope. So long as I was strong, I had to finish this battle. So I finished the battle. I wiped my eyes and wiped my eyes again and looked away from the glare of the rising Sun and pitched my head back and screamed until my voice cracked and broke and shattered into a million pieces as people turned to find the source of the inhuman screech. In reality, it was the most human thing I had ever done, because in that exact instant I let every emotion I had ever held back flood through my being, I let all my walls topple down. I let everything rush through me and I screamed at the rising Sun for coming too late with so much anguish and pain and sadness and hopelessness I was terrified of myself, and then I wiped my eyes and wiped my eyes again and I finished the battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter


	27. Sad Endings Are Only Natural

In the years to come, the story of the Battle of the Dead would be retold over and over, and always Corporal Levi would be the hero. He took charge of the Survey Corps easily, came up with a plan himself to win the seemingly hopeless battle, and led his troops to victory. He truly was Humanity's Strongest, and even years after his death his stories would be told and eventually printed in history books. 

A statue would be erected in his honor, a large beautiful stone thing put in the center of town years after his death to keep his memory alive. It depicted Humanity's Strongest (who was standing upon a large base to make him look taller) holding the head of a shifter by its hair. No one knew the faces of the many shifters he had slain in his lifetime, so they just used the face of Eren Yeager- a young shifter who had died in the Battle of the Dead. 

No one knew how he died except that it was from a human's blade, so most people decided that it had to have been the Corporal. It was common knowledge that he had openly beat the boy in a court, disdain clear on his face, so it was assumed that he had never liked the boy. It was assumed that he never liked anyone. But that was okay, because he was Humanity's Strongest, and no one later in history would care whether he had friends or a lover. No one was worthy of the man immortalized in story and stone, and even in his lifetime no one saw him with anyone other than the stupid shifter boy he had to stay with by order of the court. 

So no one told stories of Humanity's Strongest looking for friends, no one told how he grew distant from everyone after the Battle of the Dead. So no one knew how he rebuilt a hundred walls around his heart and drifted farther and farther away from the Squad leader Hanji and Commander Erwin, no one cared to find out. No one knew that he rarely even spoke except to give orders, no one cared if he did. He was Humanity's Strongest, and he lived his life by killing and beating back the Titans, and you didn't really have to be human to do that. You didn't need emotions and friends and lovers to be human anyway, no expressions and people who cared for you required. All you needed was the face of a man, a beating heart, and someone to remember you for better or for worse.

So no one knew that Humanity's Strongest was a man who got up early every single morning to watch the sunrise, no one knew that he was a man who cried himself to sleep every night in a bed too big and cold for him until he had run out of tears to shed. No one knew that Humanity's Strongest was a man who had had his heart shattered into a million pieces and who had never bothered picking up the pieces to put them together again. No one knew that Humanity's Strongest was a man who every day visited an empty grave and left flowers braided into flower crowns to lay over the gravestone. 

No one knew that Humanity's Strongest was a man who was plagued by night terrors and who never slept even remotely well since the Battle of the Dead, no one knew he had gotten back from the battle and met with a smithy who had his order ready only to throw the ring into the fire and cry. 

No one noticed that the date Humanity's Strongest died lined up perfectly with the Battle of the Dead, no one cared to find his body and see what had been his cause of death.

If they had, no one would've told how Humanity's Strongest died from his own blade.

No one wanted to know that Humanity's Strongest had had no strength left.

So no one knew.

 

FINIS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it. The end. It's all over. They met, they loved, they died. There were no extraordinary scenes in which people held on to the last thread of life to say goodbye, they simply died without warning, without final words or final scream. Such is the real way of life, and such is the way of this fic. I hope you liked it, and if you haven't read Please Remember (this was the prequel to it) you should go check it out. I also have another ereri fic I'm working on now with prince!Levi if you're interested called Your Royal Highness

**Author's Note:**

> Chapters up every other day! Sorry not every day, I'm having a harder time writing this one. If you haven't read Please Remember, go give that one a look!


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